I had a dear friend growing up who had the healthy version of what my family could have looked like. Not saying they didn’t have their issues, I just never saw them. Their parents were married, and they also had an older sister. They had their fights, but ultimately, all I saw was love. This was a very different dynamic from my angry, intense, and separated homes, so when I went to their house, it felt different.
When I went to their house, which for a long time was very often, they cared for me as their own. Cooked for me, helped me when I was sad, and likely put me to bed when I slept over. Their home was comfort. It was safe.
In the upstairs of their home, they had this super shaggy, green carpet. Whenever I saw that carpet, I felt peace in my body. I knew whatever pain, struggle, sadness, and fear I felt in my own home could leave my body, and I was finally safe to just . . . be.
The green carpet was always the sign I could let my guard down. Eventually, the whole family became like that green carpet for me.
We lost touch over time, but that family will always hold such a large space in my heart. They were the ones who showed me what could be. Not what I was missing. They showed me safe, loving siblings. Love as a family. Just. Love.
When I eventually found the home where most of my children were born, I immediately noticed the shaggy carpet on the floors upstairs. While it wasn’t green, it immediately brought peace in my heart and I knew, I just knew, this was my home. My own version of the green shaggy carpet.
I want to be the “green carpet” for my children. For my partner. But mostly, I want to be the green carpet family for my children’s friends—the ones, like me, who feared their own homes. I want to be that safe space, the comfort to them that I personally never had, but knew existed because of them. Because of how I felt every time I stepped foot in their home, I knew love existed and that happiness could exist in a family. I want to be that constant reminder that they can also go on to live happy lives, no matter what they have to go back home to.
In a world full of hate, and sadness, and fear, be like the family with the green carpet. The family that shows it doesn’t have to be this way forever. Because of them, I have this beautiful, happy, and full family—with my very own shaggy carpet. A life I never knew could exist without them. I always wondered what they thought of their green shaggy carpet, I hope they loved it as much as I did. I’ll always be grateful for it, and for them for bringing it into my life.
by Christine Carter 
by Cara Arnold 
