For Sale

I’m not sure why the “For Sale” sign bothers me so much.

It went up in front of my house yesterday, and, more than anything else we’ve done so far in the moving process, it really got me. And I don’t know why.

I used to love House For Sale signs, because my first real sensitivity to them came when we move to Allentown and were looking for a place to live. Every new sign signaled a new opportunity.

Then, having moved here, I came to dislike them, since they now indicated a family was looking to leave.

And now I have one of my own, Re-Max Red (is that a Crayola color?), on the grassy curb.

It’s not that I am in love with our house itself. I actually always wanted to live in a hovel, a barely-furnished apartment with bookcases and a card table, to be one of those people who doesn’t really pay attention to physical surroundings, and although I’ve made the concession to shared family life of having a nicer home, nicer furnishings, etc, I’ve never really grown attached to it.

Well, yes, I love the beautiful two-story library.
And the big backyard is great.
And the space in front for my plants and flowers, too.
And the spacious living room and dining room.
And the kitchen skylights.
And the large bedrooms, and hardwood floors.
And I know that there’s no way we’re going to be able to afford anything half as good in our new home.

But, really, I don’t think that’s what’s driving my dislike for “For Sale.”

It may be the finality of placing the sign, even though the deal has been “final” for some time now.
It may be my discomfort with advertising to the entire neighborhood, every dog-walker, every jogging Muhlenberg College student, every everyone, that the Torczyners are moving. (Granted it's all over my blog...)
It may be the yuckiness (there’s probably another word somewhere for this, something stronger than dislike and more toward creepiness) of feeling that people are going to be stopping by the sign and examining and assessing our home.
It may be the automatic nostalgia I know I’m supposed to feel, and so I reflexively create for myself kind of like the faux-Thanksgiving-feeling I get towards the end of November just because it's advertised everywhere.

I don’t know. But I definitely don’t like it. So if you’re planning on buying our home, please do it soon, so we can take down the sign and get on with things.