My modest raised ranch has two full floors of living. The whole structure is sturdy meaning both floors feel solid beneath my feet, but for some reason when I set foot on my stairs the home feels strongest. I feel connected to the strength of my home. This is a good thing. Stairs are integral to most homes. At their most basic level they take you from one floor to another. On a deeper level they take you from one floor that serves a purpose to another that oftentimes serves a different purpose.
When stairs are most solid they are built into the core of a structure. Anchored into the building soundly and located near its heart. What part of your life is at your core and takes you from purposeful floor to purposeful floor? Health is my answer. Without health, the highest and best usefulness of each story of your home and life is less important.
There have been many homes that I have lived in throughout the first part of my adult life that had uncertain staircases. They were certainly fun homes to live in.
My first apartment in Chicago was on the third floor of an old frame house that was converted into three dwellings. These stairs were steep and narrow and fairly dangerous even for a 20 something, but they were very exciting and I did not have a frame of reference.
My next stairs were normal and solid, but I recall one time, when I was moving out and moving back home, my friend lost the grip on a dresser we were carrying. It slid down the steps chasing me as I quickly shuffled my feet to stay ahead of the runaway armoire. Evidently I needed to return home in a hurry to work on my health at a house with a staircase both familiar and literally built by my father.
The two flights at the first home where my then girlfriend and now wife and I lived were varied. The one leading upstairs was traditional. The stairs leading down to an unfinished basement where we had a little area dedicated for workouts were rickety, open, poorly supported, and almost treacherous. I worked on my physical health, but it was haphazard.
Now, my stairs are solid as I mentioned. They help me traverse from the upstairs where we cook and eat and play to the downstairs where we rest and work out and read. And while my physical and mental health is and always will be a work in progress, I at least have the means to focus on it as a whole.
