Zinnia pulling, critical people looking at my house!

See these? These are zinnias. One of my FAVORITE flowers of all time...I've been growing zinnias every summer since I was in about the sixth grade. Now THESE in the photo are not mine because someone pulled some of mine out of the flower bed yesterday....I assume while looking at our house they decided to "pick" some!!! It could have been one of the children in one of the families that came yesterday, and if so, then I forgive them for pulling them up roots and all and then leaving them on the ground. But where were the parents????? Are these the people we want buying our house????

I am simply exhausted by this house selling process. It is one of the most emotional roller coasters I have been on since, um, last summer when we were planning Mary Beth's wedding I suppose. Steve is tired too! They have shown it twice a day most days this week and now one family is coming back in the morning to see it again, and they are bringing their contractor with them. Is this a good sign? There was a time when I was much more naive and would have thought it would be a good sign. But, alas, I have now become much more cynical and feel these people are often just "looking" and not really shopping for a house to buy.

It has become such a personal thing, this selling of the house. I had said early on that it was not for me and that I was ready....ready to let it go and move on. But, as the critics have converged and pointed out every crack in the worn concrete that bicycle wheels and roller skates travelled over....I become defensive! Do you really think we would have allowed our family to have lived in a house for 17 years that had such faulty "old" wiring that the house is ready to burst into flames??? The oak floor has some slight unevenness in the den. Is that the floor that held sleeping bags for overnight stays, Christmas trees and decorations from one end to the other? Is it the floor that Steve and I practiced ballroom dancing steps on? I don't recall ever noticing any unevenness then! What about those "steep steps" to the basement? Are those the ones that Greg, Rachel and Mary Beth could fly up and down in a flash when they were told they had a phone call or a guest at the front door? Are those the steps that have heard me call them for supper or to remind them to do their chores or homework...night after night?

I think if I stand still enough I can still hear those voices.

Yes, I think those walls, those steps and floors will all hold those memories long after we are gone from this house. This good house that gave us 17 happy years. It sheltered us from storms, provided a backdrop for many meals, movie nights, lazy mornings and lots of laughter and tears. Those same voices will tell the right family when it has found them...it will whisper in their ear that "this is the one for you." And then we will move on and new memories will be made.

So, for now, quit picking my zinnias. They are waiting on their new family.