All too often, these blog prompts leave me wordless. Literally wordless. In that I can’t think of a single thing to write. A recent prompt was if I could be an animal for a week, what kind of animal would I be. Yeah, wordless. I have enough trouble imagining myself as a human animal let alone any other sort of creature.
Another prompt was about what book inspired me to travel. How would I know? I’ve read tens of thousands of books. There’s no way I could pick out a single book. And anyway, as far as I remember, no book ever inspired me to travel — reading books was how I traveled. It was being left alone in the world with no place I needed or wanted to be that gave me the impetus to go on the road.
But this blog prompt? A no brainer!
The best purchase I ever made by far has been this house. I honestly never thought I’d be able to own a house, never really wanted the responsibility, but it’s been great, especially since it happened so late in my life. It’s nice to know I am where I will be until the end unless something drastic happens. It’s nice to know where I am going to be sleeping every night. It’s nice to have control of the temperature (the rooms I rented were either too hot or too cold, with no vote on where I wanted the temperature set). It’s nice to be able to do what I want with the yard.
It’s just . . . nice.
I was lucky to find a place I could afford to buy. (That window of opportunity has closed, so I truly lucked out!) It took a long-range move to get me here where I can live life under my own terms. Well, my terms and the weather’s terms. The weather does control a lot of what I do — when it’s too hot or too windy or too snowy, I pretty much have to stay inside where I can control my environment. It’s this modicum of control that confirms (as if I needed confirmation!) that this house is the best purchase I ever made, especially during these seeringly hot days. (Spell check wants to change “seeringly” to “sneeringly,” and while that might also be apropos, it’s not the word I chose.)
I wake up every day feeling grateful. And I give a last nod of gratitude every night.
Apparently, my best purchase was not just this house, but a life of gratitude, and that, too, is nice.
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One
Bertram's Blog 
July 23, 2026 at 10:38 am
Apparently Maslow’s hierarchy of needs says that beyond our basic physiological needs, security is our next most important–security/safety of body, resources, health, etc. I think one’s home helps meet that need, providing a place of safety and refuge, as well as somewhere we can indulge our intrinsic creativeness. It’s no wonder your first response was to think of your home as your best purchase. It would be mine, too.
July 23, 2026 at 11:09 am
It still astonishes me that I’m here. A long and sad road, to be sure, but here I am. And yes, that security is a wonderful thing.