Divided Lites

A house without windows is a soul without eyes

Of course there had to be a window. A divided-lite window in the gable end of this tiny cedar house. Because Mama Kitty would want to look out, I said. But mostly, I wanted to look in. A house without windows is a soul without eyes. So at my request, the kit came from the maker with a door at each end. Then, with tiny pine pieces cut for frame and muntins at a woodshop nearby, and a piece of plexiglass just the right size, one of those doors became a four-paned window.

If you were to walk up the path to our house at dusk, you’d see this tiny house sitting on our porch, as near to the front door as we could manage, with the widow facing out. You’d see a golden glow from the windows of our house, from candle flame and lights inside dimmed low as we eat our steaming dinner, or tuck under a throw on the couch with books and cups of tea. You’d see a glow from the window of Mama’s house, too, because, in the deep of winter, we all need candlelight.

I think about windows and how, oftentimes, it seems they’re slapped up glass, scatter-shot around a home’s exterior - here, there, there, because of code, mostly; because of big impressions, sometimes. But do we see them as an opportunity? An opening, a frame of view, a frame of mind? They’re an invitation to see through, reach through, engage. The smallest shuttered one, a storybook; the largest one, an experience, one that expands your view and your breath, and lets you live right through the wall that was once there.

Mama Kitty’s taking it slow with her new house. She sits beside it, sniffs it, looks through the window. Walks around to the door, goes halfway in, peers out the window from inside. It may be a week or so before she’s fully settled (you know how it goes, moving in), but I’ve no doubt that one day soon I’ll see her curled up in a deep cat nap on the other side of the glass.

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