Home is where the hearth is

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave and grow old wanting to get back to ~ John Ed Pearce

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There are only two possible conclusions which can be drawn from these writings.  I am either certifiably insane or it’s time to move back to the Midwest.   I’ve chosen the latter since living in a pink padded cell would deprive me of decorating choices and you know how I feel about that.

So the move is on.  I call my two sisters who are the remaining family members living away from the Ohio family and after a brief (ha) conversation they agree to move from California and Arizona back to Ohio too.  Well as you can imagine, I have taken some major editorial liberty with that statement because the truth of the story is another long story and involves tall ladders, hospitals, jobs, cash, peace signs and the number 3.

Turning my home from a well lived-in cave suitable for a hobbit into a model home takes me about six weeks.  All of us avid HGTV junkies know that we need to depersonalize and declutter the house so a prospective buyer can see herself living here.  I remove all traces of myself, all family photos, knick-knacks, evidence of hobbies and even my favorite chair which was so crammed into the family room that it got smacked by the door every time it opened.  The door.  And the chair.  Someday I was going to fix that door.  It had just not risen to the top of the list.

But depersonalize?  Really?  My home is the real estate personification of me.  Every plant, appliance, color and light fixture have been painstakingly chosen.  But oblige I do, until there is nothing of me, my family or my life left in the home.  My garage however, has been filled to the gills.  Neatly.

During the final walkthrough before the open house, my realtor asks me to do the unthinkable.  He requests that I remove my two easy chairs, fireplace and hearth from the living room.  My refusal within a nano second surprises even me.   This time, his request has gone too far.  Although it’s for sale, it’s still my home, and home is where the hearth is.

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