Echo of Change

The past week and a half has been a new experience. This past weekend was our estate sale. The goal was to sell everything that we did not choose to put in 1 of 2 5X10 storage units, one for photos, art, and other special items, and the other for Blaise’s tools.  It essentially ended up being one for all the stuff I wanted to keep and one for all the stuff Blaise wanted to keep.

We had to be out of the house the Monday before the sale for staging.  The sale was conducted Saturday and Sunday so we came back to the house the Monday after the sale.

What did we do for that week?  We stayed in 4 different places, for various reasons.  It felt like a mini trial run of the nomadic life we’ll have the next 8 months. We spent 2 nights in a lovely AirBnB in Fort Worth near Magnolia.  We used that time to enjoy our favorite Fort Worth things.  We even took a wonderful walk on the Trinity Trails; a new experience for us both.  I wondered why I didn’t go there and walk during lunch when I was working.

Then we went up to Winstar and stayed there for a couple of comp nights.  Friday we headed up to Oklahoma City for our niece’s white coat ceremony so we spent the night at a hotel in Norman.  We had booked a place in OKC but when we drove up to it, Blaise was not enthused with the location and upkeep of the property.  He took a walkthrough of the lobby area and decided we were NOT staying there.  So we headed down to Norman and stayed there at a decent place next to the hospital.  While in Norman, we did a little drive down memory lane and had a lovely brunch with our nieces before the eldest headed back to Austin.

Then we spent 2 more nights in a hotel by the raceway in North Fort Worth. Blaise actually spent 2 nights.  Saturday night, I had a lovely girls night at a friend’s house in Haslett. 

Getting back to the house Monday afternoon was a huge slap of reality. While most of the large furniture pieces were still in the house, most of our stuff was just gone. All this week since Monday, as the remaining furniture has been sold on Facebook Marketplace and removed from the house, it feels less and less like our home.

I have come to the conclusion that once there is an echo in the house, it is no longer your home. It’s fairly depressing staying here right now. I may have shed a couple of tears. We are sleeping in a bed that our family who is buying the house is keeping. I suppose we could stay at a hotel until we leave but there are things at the house we need to do before we leave.

Our living room Monday after the estate sale

One last thing before I call it quits for the night regarding the estate sale - It is very disconcerting knowing hundreds of strangers are traipsing through your home while your whole life is on display and for sale. And I think they forgot, it is still someone’s home.  Don’t go ripping the TV off the wall, damaging the wall. Not so hypothetically speaking.

Since we leave for our epic adventure next Tuesday, I suppose next time, I should talk about our trip - where we are going, what we are doing, and the logistics of it all. Until then, as I once saw someone write in autograph book when I was a child - “Love many. Hate few. But always paddle your own canoe.”