Real Life HGTV

This afternoon as my daughter and I picked up Jay Jay and Greta for their bonus walk, I finally got a closer glimpse of the day’s buzz across the street. Open boxes have been going in; taped shut boxes coming out. One person urgently packing, another doing final sweeps of closets and drawers. The Stager has been there too, mating lamps and chairs with paintings that pop. It no longer looks like my friend’s cozy house. Rather, an HGTV design rendering come to life.

The toll this is taking on my friend keeps my sadness at bay. She needs this to be done. This months-long process of winnowing down, culling and sorting, keeping and passing along, deciding and choosing. It’s almost too much for her. For them. Good thing the sisterly reinforcements arrived today. Like Mary Poppins, they dropped from the sky and went right to work, somehow knowing just what was needed, and where. They only have one more day left before the listing goes up.

Meanwhile another neighborhood friend of mine, heretofore a renter around the corner, has been eyeing the “Coming Soon” sign and yeah... I’ve already drawn her a quick floor plan and given a rundown of all the virtues of this cute but quirky gem. There will be two other small houses in this neighborhood also going up this weekend, so my buying friend hopes to see my selling friend’s place by the end of tomorrow, which I think I can arrange. Even though I probably shouldn’t be involved. I really shouldn’t. But wouldn’t it be great to have friend across the street again?!