I've been rushing about this morning, feeling very harassed, getting the house primped for a viewing by two young, timid, new doctors, with no idea of what they wanted in a house, tiptoeing round in their socks (aw, bless, they worried about mud - in my house!!).
The furniture looked tatty, and the stain that Flossie left on the sitting room carpet hasn't cleaned up well, and won't be professionally cleaned till Tuesday. Spring cleaning is overdue for cupboards and tiles. Every time I wiped a surface, a cat jumped up on it to make paw prints. I found myself thoroughly disgruntled about everything today.
After the viewers went away, I brought the dogs back from Sandra's house - yapping and hair-shedding isn't the best accompaniment to a house viewing, and Sandra hides both for me. Then I made a cup of tea and read some blogs.
And this article from June at Aging Gratefully fetched me up short. Rushing, harassed, missing the lovely things? That could have been me today.
It's well worth reading this article, taking a breath, and looking around you - not at mud or dog hair, stains or grubby grouting, but at something beautiful just waiting to be noticed.
I'm off out with the dogs now. Spring is still Spring, even under leaden skies with a chilly wind at your back, and there is beauty out there.
6 comments:
Do you , by chance , live near a hospital ?
Quite possibly this young couple were only anxious because they were worried that someone else's offer would beat their's to the post !
I hope you found something unexpectedly lovely on your walk and can now sit down amid all the pet hair ( don't even begin to believe that a single strand would linger for more than a second ) and have a cuppa .
Thank you, Rachel, for sending readers my way.
A few years ago I was all taken up with photographing autumn leaves. The riot of colors made me dizzy with joy. When the leaves all went away, I was bereft. I tried to see beauty in the stark bare branches...in the framework that had held up the frills. It has taken me three or four years to see the intricate lace of bare tree branches and twigs. Ironic. What would the colorful leaves have been without the arms that held them up on display?
I hope these two doctors have quietly fallen in desperate love with your house, and you'll have an end to the suspense soon!
That made me think of the poem - 'what is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare .....'. My Dad could never understand why people got stressed moving house - but he lived in the same house for over 80 years, so didn't remember when his parents moved there when he was about 4!! Fingers crossed for a positive outcome from the viewing.
If I were looking at your house, I wouldn't mind the yapping and hair shedding at all. But then, all buyers aren't animal lovers, are they?
Does your estate agent specialise in doctors?? Third doctor lucky, maybe? (Is it the third, or were there more?)
I was so interested to read about that experiment, and what a lovely blog. I do love to take the time to enjoy the world around me. I think the fact that Joshua Bell was playing in a station probably affects the results though, as obviously most people are hurrying to catch a train, and don't leave too much time before it arrives. I wonder if the results would have been different if he'd been playing on the street on a summer's day.
Dan
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Dan
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I love your blog!
I'm an Estate agent here in Australia and the suburb I sell most in has a hospital. I see lots of young Doctors and as my son is a Doctor, I can tell you they are probably just in awe of your lovely house.
Your house would be so much more interesting than a sterile "staged" house.
Good luck
Chrisartist
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