Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Patience (08/21/08)
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TITLE: Patience Sells | Previous Challenge Entry
By Angeline oppenheimer
08/28/08 -
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What? In an hour? Are you kidding? Actually I’m in the middle of preparing dinner!
But I hear myself in my cranked up voice infused with the Botox of induced enthusiasm, “Sure! One hour will be fine. “
My family and I know the routine by now—we’ve become really good at hiding things. Fliers on the counters? They get stashed under the sink. Dirty dishes ? Quick, throw them in the dishwasher. Stray backpacks? Hurl them into closets. By now, the closet is a landmine of knick-knacks, waiting to launch into chaos if opened unwittingly. Fluff the cushions, fold the Afghans so they look like a page out of Home Décor. We can whip the house into shape in no time but the “hook the buyer with the look” has taken its toll on all of us. A lot of times, our efforts are rewarded with a barely 5 minute tour of the house before they politely take off. It has been 14 months and 5110 days counting and the end is nowhere in sight.
One and a half years ago, hopes were high. I never turn down any request to see the house, no matter what. Here’s my chance to get rid of the house and move closer to the kids’ school. Unfortunately, the housing market sits on the dithering edge of doom and our timing couldn’t have been more off.
But now, after countless fruitless open houses with leads that die along the way and a slew of eager realtors that come to preview the houses, my enthusiasm and optimism sag. In its place is an edgy, cagey woman ready to shove this mountain of burden into any prospective buyer’s hands. But why aren’t they forthcoming? We’ve already slashed the price by $200,000 and will even throw the basketball hoop, the trampoline and the lawn-mower in. Free!
So, what’s wrong, Lord? Remember, I do not have the faith of Abraham, the stickability of Moses, the courage of Joshua or the patience of Job. Remember, Lord, I’m just an ordinary mother and wife trying to sell a house. And I need to sell it soon, before the housing market crumbles and I’m caught in the doldrums of long commutes to my kids’ school.
I may plead with the Lord like I have some measure of faith but my actions are Saraheque—I need to get the matter done and in a hurry. I sit the realtor down and ask for strategies to resolve the matter. She suggests staging the house. “And how much is that going to cost?’ I ask wearily.
At least seven thousand dollars and one catch—we have to move our furniture out. No way!
She then broaches the subject of curb appeal. Our house isn’t selling because it lacks the wow factor when people drive up the driveway. Two skimpy Palm trees with a pagoda wouldn’t do. “Perhaps, that’s what’s putting people off,” she said. Alright, I’ve seen enough episodes of Curb Appeal on HGTV to realize that she has a point there.
My husband and I mull over the suggestion and decide it is a necessary sacrifice to reel in the house-hunters. For the next two weeks, workers peel off our patchy lawn and put in a new carpet of grass, rearrange stones so they radiate aesthetic appeal, hedge our house with countless flowering plants. Fountains flow, flowers blush, birds sing and dainty purple lanterns of wisteria cascade down the arbor.
It looks fabulous.
That should do. I’m again excited, alive with possibilities.
One long month goes by and still our spectacular curb appeal has not appeal to anyone.
Defeated, I go back to God. Lord, what do I do?
A small voice seems to scream, “Be still, and know that I’m God.” I am the God who can move mountains!
So one quiet morning when no one is around, so I wouldn’t be deemed a lunatic, which I can possibly be by now, I actually lay hands on my house and pray for a miracle.
Then I take my two kids and go home to visit my family in Singapore.
When I come back, there’s a Sale Pending sign outside our driveway.
Maybe what needs moving is not the mountain of a house, but the mountain of impatience.
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It'd be great if you could put your thoughts in italics, to distinguish them from the rest of the narrative.
This has an authentic voice, very pleasant to read.