The COVID-19 Chapter, “At Home”: DAY 12&13
After pulling myself out of the doldrums, I took the last couple of days by the collar, and got to work. Yesterday was a full day of overseeing the packing of a home I’m selling, and as usual, getting busy was the best salve for me. As my dad (and St. Augustine) used to say – to work is to pray. I understand this in my bones, and my bones have been more than happy for the distraction. I woke up today, buzzing around, feeling completely amped. A good clear, sunny day also helped immensely.
Drastic times call for drastic measures, and my clients, currently living out of state, decided it was just too much to hang on to this condo in Baltimore, so they decided to sell. As much as they wanted to secure the place themselves, it was impossible for them handle the move from many hundreds of mile away.
Ooooooh, project!
Apparently being a real estate agent presents me with some deep seated fears and phobias that jump out at me, and I am called to take a good look at them.
For instance, in this situation, these brave owners are living out one of my worst nightmares. Sometimes the thought occurs to me, and I think, what if I died, and someone had to come pack up my house? Even worse, what if I WASN’T dead, and something prevented me from cleaning out my mess of a house, and someone else had to see how secretly filled with junk my attic is, and I had to live with that, knowing it was happening and there was nothing I could do about it?? Horrifying.
What would they think of all that dust under the beds??? And my bathrooms, less than sparkling? I think of things like this, now you know. These are the thoughts that make me clean the house before we take a vacation. And not just so it’s nice and clean to come home to (I mean, that IS awesome), but more the part about someone having to deal with my stuff should anything happen to me. Perhaps these fears are what fuel me to take on the project of helping someone in this precise position … I feeeeel for them. Lovingly, and with great care, I help out, somehow strangely absolving myself, should I ever find myself in the very position. It’s weird, I know.
Don’t get me wrong, this lovely home was perfect. Nothing at all for them to worry about in the slightest. And the packers were amazing. We were there for pretty much the whole day yesterday, and today was the actual hauling out day. Stuff got packed away, stuff got picked up and moved. Just like that. I will do well to remember, as these lovely clients have reassured me, that it’s just stuff. It’s a good lesson.
So what’s the takeaway? A number of things. First of all, it’s so good to keep moving. Good for my soul, good for my mind and body. Inaction makes the crazy get bigger. Please go away, crazy. Also – even in the midst of this nutso time of lockdown and lack of movement – there is movement! My job is keeping people moving – and I’m trying to do just that. What a gift, that even when the entire world has been forced to remain still, I’m still focusing on the movement, and that’s a good thing.
