I have been working lately with a delightful elderly woman who is hoping to sell her home of 49 years. Well you can imagine all the collections of things this lady has accumulated during this time. It seemed that the biggest part of the job was to rid the house of all the stuff so that prospective buyers might be able to see what the house had to offer. However, I soon realized that it really wasn't all the things surrounding the owner but the memories that this house held for her. She had raised five children in this house, had been very active in the community and had now been a widow for 21 years. The plan originally was for her to move from the house shortly after her husband passed away but she couldn't leave and so the years came and went and now here she is, tying to put on a brave face as she sees her possessions being packed away and loaded up. She has many stories and I sit and listen as she tells me about this painting or how she used to sit at the counter in the kitchen and parpare a meal with her husband. There is no rushing her. At times the tears flow but she regains her composure and smiles. The roses over there she says were the last ones from her husband before he got sick. I've kept them all these years but I don't think I'll be taking them. I promise to put together a memory book for her.
I wonder what this lovely lady will do when she moves. I've helped her select what she will take with her to the senior's home she's moving into and maybe I will go and have tea with her then. But she won't have her constant companion, her beloved pet dog. She has to go elsewhere. This tears at my heartstrings too.
My work as a Home Stager, as you can see, is not just paying attention to the physical surround but it is often the people who have lived in the home that has now become simply a house to be sold that makes this work so satisfying.
