Hugh Howey

Bestselling author of Wool and other books. Currently sailing around the world.

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Our awesome little home

Our home is for sale, and we had two different lookers take the tour today. They both seemed to really like the place, and it felt great to show it off. But it’s such a bittersweet experience, selling a home. Especially one you love as much as I adore this one.

The house is small. Around 800 square feet. It forced us to simplify our lives, and it really got us in great financial shape. Coming from a life of living aboard tiny boats, I was sold before we embarked on this adventure. My wife needed convincing. I think this place has really won her over. Not just for its ability to save us money, but a recognition of how much we owned that we never needed.

I look forward to closing on the house, because I don’t want to be in Florida with something I’m responsible for so very far away. But I’ll also be sad. I might literally cry to see it empty, our stuff taken out, someone taking the key to the front door from me. It’s odd, but the home that taught me to not be too attached to things, to be able to let go and live freely, has become the thing I’m attached to the most. (Thing being the operative word. My wife, family, friends, and little mutt are in a different league.)

So here I sit, our house perfectly clean, mood music playing from the speakers embedded in the ceilings throughout the place, both hoping we get a call from one of these lookers . . . and dreading it.

10 replies to “Our awesome little home”

I know the feeling! I did cry when my family moved out of the house we had spent our childhoods in! I just remember my uncle telling me not to cry because “your new house is bigger and better”, but honestly, that didn’t help.

A house is just a building until you make it into a home, and clearly, your house has become a home. I know that the house my husband and I share is almost like another member of the family! Hopefully you and your wife get the offer you have been waiting for, and remember, you will always have the memories you shared with the house.

I’m sorry that you’re feeling down Hugh. Never had that experience before, but I can empathize with you.

But look at things another way. The next family to own your little castle may be in a financial mess and could stand to learn the same lessons you have by living in that small space. I’m sure that would make things a little less painful.

(On the other hand, you could end up banking so much money that you can have the home moved to Florida. ;) )

It’s a bittersweet time. Good luck on the sell and the move. Hopefully it’ll be as stress-free as possible.

It was tough for us when we sold our first house. Our home when our kids were born, where they learned to crawl, to walk, to talk. So many memories woven into the that house. Images of family milestones like 1st birthdays, 1st Communion go hand in hand with the fond memories of our 1st home.
Almost 6 years later, I walk onto our kitchen and pass by the door frame and gaze upon the little tick marks with initials and dates, showing how our children have grown. I look out the window and see the court where they learned to ride a bike. If I look up, I can usually spot a piece of tape on the ceiling from a streamer put up there during our last birthday celebration.
After moving, I soon realized that we never left our home, those memories and feelings did not convey to the new owners like the appliances did. We infected our new house the minute we set foot inside, and I see it and feel it every day I wake up.

Well said, Zygote. I was in the military when our daughter was born, then we moved for my wife to go to medical school, now we’re in house number 4 (counting a stay with my dad along the way) in the 5 short years our daughter has been alive. Each house has been just as much “home” as the last. The building is there to provide shelter. The family is there for the rest.

You may not want to reveal, but if you do, where are you moving to in FL? I’m up in the panhandle in Panama City Beach. Nice area up here..

I live a couple miles south of Jupiter… if you’d like a suggestion from an almost native… check out Hobe Sound which is between Jupiter and Stuart. If we were to sell house [not going to, not now anyway, with the housing market still depressed] that’s where I’d live. It has a small town feel, water and beach, art and a slower pace of life yet is not far from services and commercial areas.

Good luck with the home sale.

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