I have always lived life with rose-colored glasses. I have also designed my life and my home with the alchemy of past memories (family and friends) blended with modern sensibility and style. When I first decided I wanted to write about universal home design from the perspective of lifestyle and not just functional safety, I knew it would be more than one blog. This was going to become a passion project, similar to how my Me Time Monday program began with a focus on caregiver self-care and developed into a comprehensive wellness program based on behavioral science.
As I was creating the content for this new home design for life concept, all the current terminology – aging in place, home for a lifetime, universal home design ideas, forever home – sounded too literal and were already being widely used. I wanted a catchy name that was as envigorating and engaging as the content I would create.
So I decided to take my own advice – I tapped into one of the Me Time Monday exercises I use in my wellness workshops: visualization. This is a self-care hack I often do in my workshops. I have people think about scenes from a cherished childhood or their youth when they felt carefree and joyful.
For this project, I thought about the beautiful, stylish design images I would want in my home as I aged. I thought about my passion for beautiful design but also how our homes are more than style – they are our sanctuaries. This led me to feelings of family and friends, coziness, quiet conversations, comfort and calm. What experiences in my life represented some of these feelings?
Grandma’s Secret Pool Place
My inspiration to become a writer and book author came from my maternal grandmother who was a short story author. What popped into my head as I was brainstorming names for this new venture was a phrase my Grandma used when I was little, “Let’s go to Snug Harbor.” This phrase represented a safe, secretive and shaded sun spot in her backyard pool. Since my grandma never learned how to swim, my grandfather built her a pool where in the shallowest end she could walk – even at her 4’ 11” height – to the corner under the big curving palm tree and have a little seat for two where she could enjoy the summer warmth and refreshing cool water. It also became a phrase she used whenever I was feeling sad or upset, “Remember, we can always go to Snug Harbor” and there everything would be OK again. For me, Snug Harbor became a magical place.
My Stepdad’s Navy Story
When my mom met my stepdad I was around 8-years-old. That first summer we went to my grandparent’s pool and I told him about Snug Harbor. As a proud Navy veteran, he informed me Snug Harbor was a saying that sailors used to let each other know there would be a place where they could live out their golden years. “See ya at Snug Harbor” meant not only to see your buddy at the retirement home on Long Island in New York (which today is no longer a retired Navy nursing home but a museum) but it also meant, “See ya in heaven.” Snug Harbor meant a peaceful place for eternity near the sea.
The London Snug
Traveling has always been my passion and London is a favorite destination given my British, Scottish and Welsh roots. On one London trip with friends, we stopped into a local pub and asked for a private table or area where we could have a quiet conversation while we drank some not-so-cold pints. The barman said, “We can put you in the snug for a few pounds more.”
This area was often a small room off the main bar area, more upscale with carpet, often a fireplace or hearth, nicer chairs such as club chairs or maybe even a sofa, and very quiet and sometimes closed off from the public bar area with a frosted glass window and private alcove. In researching the term, “the snug” for my project, I also learned that up until the 20th century, the snug area in a pub was typically the only place where a lady could enter a drinking establishment since women in pubs were frowned upon. Given this history, for me the snug represents an inviting, private, quiet, comfy place. “Brilliant” as the Brits would say.
Hugs are Us
My family is full of huggers, I think it’s the Scottish DNA. As I was learning more about wellness, I was thrilled to have science validate that hugs can improve your emotional and physical health. The oxytocin release from a good hug improves brain health and boosts immunity. And, personally I love snuggling (my honey, my dog, my new silk pillows).
I also found recent research that shows living life with rose-colored glasses is more than a quaint saying. Researchers found moods, such as a positive outlook, filters our visual system and shapes our “perceptual experience.” In other words, being optimistic can affect your biology and can contribute to better health and longer lives.
When it came to my finding a name for my new project, Snug Harbor may not mean to all my readers what it means to me personally. But The Snug Home (which rhymes with hug) could be about home, hugs, health, harmony, happiness. And a rosy-peachy palette has always been my happy color and just may change your feelings about getting older.
And so, The Snug Home it is. I will bring you spaces and places to inspire you to design the life you want for yourself and your older loved ones for a lifetime. It will be the haven for happiness (and information) we all need.
Live well and enjoy,
Sherri
Research study on rose-colored glasses outlook on longevity: University of Toronto. “People Who Wear Rose-colored Glasses See More, Study Shows.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 June 2009. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KD7FSy5lf8nYxqmQwx9rF8x3Ij5zbcqF/edit#slide=id.p1
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