Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and today I went to a funeral.
At 45 years of age, I haven’t been to many funerals. I think this is mostly because I have never had extended family living around me, and so didn’t experience the generations of family getting old and eventually dying. But as with most people, there have been people that were important to me die. I don’t think it will ever be something that is easy for me, I doubt it is for many.
The person whose funeral I went to today was very close to my age. His children were just a little older than mine, he left behind three and a wife. Also his parents, and a brother and sister and their families. I know them all because I have sold several of them houses over the years. I have helped them choose their next homes, and sell homes when it was time. This family is close, and supportive of each other, and the love they share has always been very evident. They have chosen homes close to each other, and stayed a family unit over the 10 plus years that I have known them. And I have been jealous of this big family that is openly affectionate and supportive of each other…and I probably always will be…but I am grateful that they have let me into their family just a little, to play a role, to get to know them, to see their lives, and their hearts, and their homes.
Real estate has always been about the love of the home for me…not necessarily the structure of the house, or the design, or the neighborhood…but the structure that creates a home for people that live there. Home is the safe place, the quiet place, the place people go when they want to strip off the masks they wear all day. The place where they are who they are …because whether they live alone or with others, they no longer have to pretend. Home is where the defenses come down, and people are their true selves…and I love those glimpses I see of people’s unmasked, defenseless selves when I see their homes.
So I always care about my clients, much more than I probably really let on. I worry about them, and I wonder if everything is working out as they hoped. I don’t always get those answers…but I love when I do. So on the eve of Mother’s Day I am thinking about all the families I have glimpsed, those that have let me into their homes and shared a bit of their inner selves. I think about the mom that is now the only parent those three children have, and I wish her strength, and the support of her extended family to let her know she is not alone. And all those moms that are exhausted, and over whelmed, and over worked…I hope you are treated like the queens you are tomorrow. And those moms that hope they did a good job raising their children…even though they are gone and you don’t hear from them as often as you wish…know that you were home for those strong, independent people when they needed it, and there is nothing more important than that…so feel confident in that knowledge.
In honor of moms, and homes, and lives ended too soon, let’s all make an effort to let down our masks, and share the love we all hold inside… with each other. Yes, it might be scary at first, but love is what will make any place a home, and we all need a place for our hearts.
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