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Business upper floor is home for Mike and Laura Harris Laura's calling, "Get rid of all but what you can use - right now." At a time when the city of Columbia is searching for grants and any possible funding to help owners upgrade historic properties, one answer may be living quarters on the upper floors above businesses around the square. By Linda Waggener Dr. Laura Henry Harris and her husband, attorney Mike Harris, shared what it's like to live above their business on the Public Square in Columbia, KY. The question asked them recently was, "what's it like to live full-time above the busy Public Square?" The short answer from Mike is, "It's working just fine." The longer answer from Laura is, "while it's different in many ways from living in a house, and I miss my garden, it's where we're supposed to be for now." According to Laura, "Five years ago, while working in Brazil, the Lord directed me to sell our house and even specified what to ask for it. "He spoke to me that the first cutting of things would be easy - the second one is going to hurt. Get rid of all but what you can use - right now." She said she and Mike followed the message she'd received, listing their 6,000 square foot home in the quiet, rolling Adair County countryside, but she recalls not feeling very passionate about promoting it. They'd agreed that if God wanted the house to be sold, it would be done. Over the ensuing five years, they listed it with a realtor. Time passed and they continued to live in their comfortable home filled with family keepsakes and personal things, all the things that come with raising three children to adulthood, until one day last year she got a call from a realtor who had someone who wanted to see the home. She says that she began to clean and purge, giving away clothing and furniture, even pantry items, remembering the command to keep only what the two could use - right now. Their home would be shown to two different families and one of them would become the new owner. The Harris's were really moving, getting to 'right now' size. They chose to move into the apartment above their recording business, Red Brick Studio, where they had housed many business and ministry guests over the years since they'd restored the building. The spacious apartment has three bedrooms, full laundry room, open concept kitchen dining and living areas that look out onto the historic Public Square. And she says that it's their place for right now - it is comfortable and there's plenty of room. She said the only drawbacks have been living without her garden and learning that every single thing that comes into her home must now come up what she refers to as her "winding staircase to heaven." Carrying in groceries in the public eye is not fun. Noise has not been a problem. She is never disturbed from her sleep by sirens, not even when the historic Walker Florist building burned just a few blocks away in the night earlier this year. She sometimes hears sirens during the day if she's working in the apartment at the time something goes around the square, but it's not disturbing. They moved to their home on the square in April 2018 and to solve missing her garden, she rented one of the 8'x8' community garden spaces beside the Columbia United Methodist Church to grow vegetables and herbs, especially basil. Missing her garden may be offset by her sense of calm that has come from decluttering her life and getting to 'right now'. There's also the fact of living central to everything, she and Mike are able to run out to pick up things in minutes, whereas it was a half hour trip to town from when they lived in the country. She says she would not go back. She culled clothes by half, then she culled that by half again, and then for a third time, cutting to half of her remaining clothes. Even harder than their clothes closets was, since both of them are foodies, letting go of an extensive pantry with every kind of kitchen gadget. They culled their cooking implements by 80%. Her advice to anyone who wants to answer a call to declutter, "be brutal. Cut down to only that which you can use right now." They may have a house again someday, she continues to look at what's for sale. If they were to find a perfect house and move tomorrow, this will have been the right experience and the right move for this time in their lives. Laura began to practice law with her husband on the square in 1990 and maintains her license but her time is devoted to the ministry, Where He Leads Me. She is a published author, she has a masters degree from Asbury theological seminary and received her doctorate from United Theological Seminary in 2013. She is called to grow their ministry through writing and speaking. She feels most at home traveling the world providing training to pastors who have no formal education. The ministry has a diverse board of directors from various states around the country as well as from Kentucky. As we finished our discussion and the tour of her home on the Square, guests were arriving to work with her on the ministry. This story was posted on 2019-04-08 14:45:32
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