This week’s Prompt For The Promptless is about Gezelligheid:

Gezelligheid is a Dutch noun meaning the comfort and coziness of being at home, with friends, with loved ones or general togetherness.

Yay for more untranslatable phrases from around the world.

I am a big fan of Gezelligheid and didn’t even know it. Sometimes, I think my friends forget I even exist because it’s rather difficult at times to pry me out of my house. They are welcome to come over any time though (provided they call first and I say it’s alright).

I’m kind of a homebody these days for a few reasons. First, I don’t really drink much anymore because of crippling hangovers, and Male doesn’t drink at all. Getting together with friends generally means drinking. Second, Male is usually camped out at my house. Third, the dog. She always gives me that look whenever I have to leave her at home. And then I feel guilty that I’m out having fun and she’s all locked up inside. I’m a sucker.

I have everything I need at home. Company and snuggles (feline, canine or human), and comfort. I live with a boy. He’s been a good friend of mine for over a decade. He owns the house, I rent from him. As far as decor goes, he is a stereotypical boy. The house looks like a dormitory. Everything has a purpose, but there’s no character. There’s no personality. There’s no coziness.

My room, on the other hand, is full to overflowing with personality. I have tons of bright colors in my room. It used to be a sedate blue, but I got tired of being all grown up. Nowadays, my room looks like a child’s room with pink, yellow and green pillows; purple rugs; blue, green and yellow lamps; a bright blue chair; blue curtains and this comforter:

Male says it looks like a rainbow threw up in my room, but fuck that guy. It makes me happy, dammit. Whenever I walk in my room now and see the rainbow, it puts a smile on my face. I don’t want to grow up.

Throughout my life, bedrooms are places where I have spent a lot of time awake. I didn’t have much by way of security in my childhood. My bedroom was a place of terror. That’s where all the bad things happened to me. That’s where the Monster would come in and sexually abuse me at night. I have been an insomniac ever since. The slightest noise wakes me.

But now, when I sleep in my rainbow-puke bed, it’s comforting. Even in the darkness, I know I’m surrounded by bright colors and sunshine. Changing my room’s colors didn’t really help me sleep better, but it makes me happier to lie awake knowing the only monsters are my pillows. I spend a lot of time in my room, so I want it to be someplace that makes me happy. All of my favorite stuff is there. My favorite books, gifts, souvenirs, family heirlooms and personal heirlooms. All the things with stories live there, along with a dog and a cat.

The other place I spend tons of time is the backyard. We have a huge covered patio so I can be out there year round, even when it’s raining. The fact that I live in southern California doesn’t hurt. I am always outside, which makes my dog happy.

We have a crappy yard with a lot of potential. When my roommate moved in, it was overgrown with weeds and hadn’t been tended in years. Sadly, my roommate’s lack of caring what things look like also extends to the yard. My sister and I have had long conversations about what we would do to the yard if it was ours. It’s still pretty haggard, even after four years, but it’s getting there. The star of the yard is the lemon tree.

It’s huge, probably about 20-25 feet tall and full of fruit. Even after years of neglect, the thing is ridiculously healthy. After it rains, it produces more lemons than anyone could ever need. Not only are there a ton of lemons, but they are juicy as hell. We have fresh lemonade year round and have to give the rest away.

I like the yard, especially at night when you can’t see how not green and full of dirt it really is. Most of the time, you can only see the bright planets, but on clear nights, you can see constellations. I have my chair out there with a footstool and a lumbar pillow. I’ve written almost all of my weekend posts out there. My roommate and I have friends over from time to time. We have a lot of the same friends. We sit outside eating and chatting away long into the night. The yard is perfect for it.

When you have all of that, why would you want to leave the house? My house is full of comfort, coziness, fresh lemons and smiles. My home is full of gezelligheid. Come on over sometime. I’ll let you take some lemons home with you (please, for fuck’s sake, take some lemons home–there are too many).