Digging up the roots
November 10th, 2005 by HenMy wife and I have spent the last week in a sprint to get the house ready to put on the market. Prior to that we spent the last few months slowly moving things in the right direction. Hopefully we’ll be able to stick a for-sale sign on the lawn at some time very soon. Selling a house seems to be about putting together an illusion of perfection, making sure that there’s no tiny thing that will deter the customer so you spend a lot of time staring at the floor and walls looking for something wrong.
I can feel the roots being torn out at the base of the house; ie the basement. Half of my computers are in a pile to take to the recyclers or given away, much of our crap is boxed up against a wall and the place looks tidy. It’s never looked tidy before; the laboratory of a rather deranged yet simple-minded computer techie sure, but tidy? Never.
My son is also tearing up his roots; he’s started walking, and he’s amazingly cute at it. In four days or so he’s gone from his first tentative steps to walking around trying to kick a ball and wondering why we’re clapping and cheering. You have to wonder; what was the one tiny thing that was holding him back. He’s been crusing on the furniture and standing without support for months, and he took a first step a few weeks ago. So what was it that finally clicked?
Maybe his ears found some new balance after months of crawling, or maybe it was the kick the football while holding Daddy’s hand that we’ve been playing recently 
Maybe he was just building confidence until everything felt right, an illusion of perfection again. Whatever it is, it’s a joy to watch.