Knocked Flat By My Old Flat

Last week I got derailed.

Does this ever happen to you? You wake up on Monday morning feeling good, your to-do-list long but doable, on track for a great work week and then something happens. And that something is something beyond our control, and as much as we try to control our response, we can’t, and that perfect path to productivity becomes riddled with metaphorical rocks that sends us off track.

In my case, I became derailed by a real estate listing video.

As many of you know, last year I sold my Nob Hill flat and moved to a house in Golden Gate Heights.  That flat was my home for sixteen years from my mid-30s to just over 50, a big chunk of life in the middle when jobs/careers are established, families are formed, and we’re no longer chasing boys in bars or the next big promotion because we’re there. Time to relax.

Debris from my life in the flat, ready for next chapter.

For me, those years were anything but relaxing. But they all happened in that flat, my home:

I grieved the loss of my dad and death of my mom which followed years later.

I had a fibroid air-lifted out and exploding appendix removed.

I became mom to Gary and Sponge, two big beautiful orange boys.

I learned to paint and rediscovered my love of drawing.

I quit a job, and started a company that almost went out of business, at which time the flat also became my office.

I suffered depression.

I filed for divorce and got a DUI in the same week.

I discovered the magic that is Yoga.

I fell madly in love and got remarried

I fell madly in love with baking pies.

I became a cat-mom again.

I started this blog with Jslow.

And now, that flat, full of the essence of my tears and blueberry pie and cat hair, has been flipped by the agent who bought it, and all the cat hair and tears and blueberry-pie crust crumbs and memories have been dumped all over California Street. And a clean, shiny condo I don’t recognize is now ready for someone else to make memories of their own.