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All of These Must Go

December 28, 2014

She was tall and had the longest, thinnest legs I’ve ever seen. She was like a giraffe, a giraffe with a pixie cut, anyway. Her delicate fingers held her cell phone as she snapped photos. She walked in whispers, in waves. And then in one fell swoop, she saw my books. “Oh,” she said. I could smell the distaste as the word dropped from her lips and hung there. “These, all of these must go,” she said, and one of her arms gestured, as if I could use a magic wand to POOF them away.

Screen Shot 2014-12-28 at 5.57.00 PM

Giraffe lady’s business card was shiny, waxy, and I folded it over and over upon itself. Her leopard-print kitten heels clicked along our scuffed up wood floors. They sneered at my New Balance tennis shoes from Costco.

I couldn’t keep up with her. She wanted our life put into boxes, compartmentalized, hidden, camouflaged. Like only the house existed, not the people inside of it. No evidence. Clear the crime scene, no human beings have deigned to breathe within the confines of these walls! No children or adults have sullied this place, look how pristine it is!

Giraffe lady emailed a to-do list of eleventy billion things that needed attention before proceeding.

I heaved myself up and began. What else was there to do?

Filed Under: My Fiction

Comments

  1. Tracie says

    December 29, 2014 at 7:30 am

    I can’t even tell you how excited I was to see an email with a new blog post from you in my inbox this morning. Welcome back. šŸ™‚ Your writing is as beautiful and evocative as always.

    The staging process is so weird. I know the conventional wisdom is to make the house a blank slate of sorts so people can imagine themselves living in it. But I could never imagine myself living in a house with no books, and I could never feel any sort of kinship with someone who doesn’t appreciate them.

  2. Debi says

    December 29, 2014 at 7:57 am

    So glad to see you writing again !!! We’ve missed your words! Xoxo

  3. Andrea says

    December 29, 2014 at 8:56 am

    This is simple and heartbreaking. xo

  4. Elaine A. says

    December 29, 2014 at 9:13 am

    Starting fresh, try to look at it that way. Love you…

  5. Rachel Speer says

    December 29, 2014 at 12:13 pm

    SO HAPPY to see you blogging again! Powerful emotions. xoxo

  6. Cameron says

    December 29, 2014 at 1:21 pm

    I have Opinions on staging. šŸ˜‰
    I am glad to see you using this space again.

  7. twitter: LisasLeben says

    December 29, 2014 at 9:44 pm

    SO glad to see you writing, although this post is hard. šŸ™ Sending good, strengthening thoughts and prayers to you. Hopefully the writing will help the healing and the letting go…

  8. Jeff says

    December 29, 2014 at 11:55 pm

    The BEST blogger on the internet is BACK!!! Yea!

  9. Renee Bross says

    December 30, 2014 at 8:51 am

    So happy to get a blog post from you, but my, what an emotional time you must be going through. Sending love and hugs your way…in the form of donuts! xoxo

  10. julie gardner says

    December 30, 2014 at 1:27 pm

    I hauled myself out of a blog-post-reading hiatus to come here when I saw your name in my inbox.

    Love you, lady.
    Will read you forever.
    No matter how much time passes or how many things change.
    You’re still incomparably you.

  11. Christopher says

    December 30, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    The world is a MUCH better place when Erin Best writes and blogs. However, not sure what is more inspiring: the fact you’re writing again or all the love you’re receiving from readers. Amazing response from peeps that obviously adore you as a person and writer. You are such an impressive voice and force of nature, Erin.

  12. Alison says

    January 1, 2015 at 5:42 am

    You are beautiful and talented, and it warms my heart to read your words here. xo

  13. Andrea says

    January 2, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    SO happy to see your words.

    So not happy that giraffe lady was so not real. Staging bothers me. I mean, I get it, but I just don’t. Why wouldn’t someone want to see a lived-in home? Hugs for the hard, my friend.

  14. Anna Dell says

    January 5, 2015 at 9:17 am

    I too was thrilled I was able to read your writing this am. This woman was so easy to picture from your description. She sounded like a feathered robot. Take Care, Anna Dell

  15. Sherri says

    January 13, 2015 at 11:29 pm

    i can see her… and I don’t like her. Love seeing your words here again, and look forward to the day when you can write here whenever you wish. xoxo

Who is Erin?

I’m a mama of twin girls plus one. I’m a writer, an editor, and social media manager for hire.

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