Why the Gathering Room?

True to my nature, I was driving into town and saw the sign..a garage sale sign, and of course I pulled right in.  It had just opened, and I went through, bought about 5 items, and checked out.  Among my treasures were some three panel room divider screens with candle holders, a bench, a chair, a frame, and this sign.  The sign is nothing extraordinary, that's for sure, but at that time I was considering starting a blog, and when I saw the sign, I thought "that's it"!

The gathering room conjures in my mind many things, just like it did that day.  Initially it begged the question, "Just where is this gathering room?".  Like my pastor once aptly described, a gathering to honor God is as appropriate in an empty meadow as it is in a European cathedral.  It is the connection that matters, not so much the place where we connect.

But, it isn't ever as simple as that either.  Sometimes, the place is the setting that creates the mood for the connection.  I think back on special moments in my life, most of them involving my family some how, and often times there was something that evoked attention, focus, atmosphere, acceptance,  even "mood".  I remember sitting on the balcony of a castle in Scotland, drinking a glass of champagne with my husband, looking out over a manicured lawn and knowing with all of my heart that there was no better companion in life, not just on that trip, than that man.  You might think it was because I was in a castle, and you might think it was because I was in Scotland.  I doubt you would be altogether wrong.  But the big picture dictated that we were together, doing something we loved to do (travel, eat, learn), enjoying time together in a common space with a common purpose.

Really, the gathering room for me isn't so much about a space, as it is about feelings.  So when I named my blog "the gathering room chic" it really was that simple, inspired by a favorite activity, conjuring favorite people, things, and activities all into one place.