7. One Last Look Back

On 6 October 2022, at around 7:00 PM, I took this photo, the very last shot of the house. I spent the evening wandering around the property tearfully bidding farewell to the trees, the grass, the earth that was no longer mine.

The week of 9 April 2023 was marked by an equally emotionally challenging event: I learned that the fellow who bought my home had put it up for sale already, after not having spent one minute there. I learned of this through a text I received from one of my former neighbors, who didn't even know I'd moved out (regrettably, in my rush to vacate, I neglected to tell everyone).

It all made for a surreal experience, especially after seeing the listing: it featured over 70 photos, including a series taken by a drone—something I would love to have done back while I was building it (I was even pricing drones at the time). I had deeply conflicted feelings about the whole thing: naturally, the seller was free to do with his property as he chose, but this move totally blindsided me.

It all happened in a blinding flash. The listing was up for less than a week before it sold—for more than the asking price (and more than twice what I sold it for). This made me feel a little good considering that, as I was building it, realtors warned me that it might be difficult to sell because it was too personal and unique—one agent even called my home "strange." Not that it mattered; I had no intention of ever selling it, and routinely advised people I would die there. Little did I know at the time what life had in store for me...

Worse, the identity and, more significantly, the intentions of the new owner were unknown to me, thus throwing the property's fate into a discomfiting cloud of doubt. I had to force myself to divorce myself from it all over again, which made for a really, really rough week.

Here are some of the drone shots from the realtor listing. I'm especially proud of how the house fits into the environment, something I struggled to achieve—without the benefit of drone photography.

I've not been back to the property since the day I left, and I shall never step foot there again. I want to remember it exactly as it was when I lived there, exactly the way it is in the photo at the top of the page. I want nothing to ever sully that memory.

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