Perspective

per·spec·tive 

n.

1.

a. A view or vista.

b. A mental view or outlook: "It is useful occasionally to look at the past to gain a perspective on the present" (Fabian Linden).

2. The appearance of objects in depth as perceived by normal binocular vision.

3.

a. The relationship of aspects of a subject to each other and to a whole: a perspective of history; a need to view the problem in the proper perspective.

b. Subjective evaluation of relative significance; a point of view: the perspective of the displaced homemaker.

c. The ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance: tried to keep my perspective throughout the crisis.

4. The technique of representing three-dimensional objects and depth relationships on a two-dimensional surface.

adj.

Of, relating to, seen, or represented in perspective.

Not that long ago I was taking two different clients to see houses on the same day. The first client was a husband and wife, in their early to mid 30s looking at a $330,000 house. We will call them Matt and Sarah. The second client was an eighty year old lady looking at houses less than $10,000. We'll call her Hazel, because although it sounds like an old lady name I love it. I was super excited to show Matt and Sarah this giant, newly built home. I was really only meeting Hazel out of obligation and kind of wishing I didn't have to go. Obviously, God had a lesson for me.

I pull up to the giant 5,000+ sq ft house and Matt and Sarah are there waiting with Sarah's parents checking out the outside. The owner of the home was still there doing some last minute vacuuming. I knock on the door and let her know that we are there. She gets everything put away and leaves. I engage in some small talk as we wait. Matt is very friendly. Sarah has a little bit of an uppity attitude, but she is chatting about what color she would paint the door and shutters and is upbeat. As they walked through the home I felt like I should have been on an episode of HGTV. "Oh! this would be a great setup for entertaining" "I would have to really change that backsplash" "Uh, what were they thinking here?" "Where did they buy this tile? At the discount bin?" "Did they even bother to clean?" Now, this was a very nice house 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms with granite countertops, a wine cooler, finished theater room in the basement, inground pool etc. I felt bad for the husband and parents as they tried to apologize and reign her in. I don't think she will ever be satisfied or pleased.

Next, I go to meet Hazel. I pull in front of a $9,000 home and wait and wait and wait. She finally pulls up about 15-20 minutes late. She apologizes profusely as her power had been out and she couldn't use her phone to call or get directions. We go inside and not surprisingly the house needs A LOT of work. Windows were broken, the ceiling was falling in and there was nothing left of the kitchen but pipes. Most people would have walked right back out. She just jokes that it doesn't look as good as the pictures showed. She can see there is potential, but she thinks that it is probably more work than she is looking for. We drive to the next house that is only $6,000. The porch is about to cave in. What is left of the kitchen looks like something from the 1960s. But, the house as a whole is standing and seems structurally okay.  She raves the whole time about how nice the house is and how it could be really nice with just a little bit of decorating work. She is unsteady on her feet so I go down into the basement to take pictures of the furnace. I helped her back to her car and reprogrammed her GPS, that her son had bought her and she didn't know how to use, to go home. I gave her a hug (anyone that knows me, knows I don't do hugs) and made sure she drove away safely. She was so genuinely happy to just have a house it made my heart hurt.


After the first showing I just shook my head in disbelief. And then I had to check myself. Am I becoming that person? I tend towards liking nice things. I pin beautiful things on Pinterest way too often. I feel like I'm rarely satisfied with what I have. I always want something bigger or better. I don't think I'm materialistic. Most of what we have is old hand me downs or bought from Craigslist, but I can start to feel like what I have isn't good enough. I had a remodeling bug earlier this year. Most of the things have needed done since we moved here two years ago, but as we went along I felt myself being pulled into the luxury side. A series of unplanned events stalled the renovations and looking back I'm glad they did. We still have a few things that need done (like our bath that is plywood floors and a gaping hole where the shower should be) but I no longer feel the need for ceramic floors and quartz countertops. It would have put a large strain on our budget and not really necessary just for the pretty factor.





            I want to be Hazel. 
       I choose to be Hazel.