Earlier this summer, our neighborhood friend group lost one of its founding members after her prolonged battle with cancer ended with her being taken from us far too soon. We all knew that this was likely the path we were on, and made a point to soak up the time together as much as possible, but you’re still never really prepared when the day comes when you find out your friend is gone. I’ve learned how to accept losses like this over my life, how to appreciate the impermanence of things, and how to hold even more gratitude for those connections because of how limited and fragile our time together is.

Even so, while on a dog walk today, I found it jarring to walk past the house she left—one where we shared many dinner parties and back yard hangs—to see people lined up out front for the estate sale that her family had arranged. I had an awareness that there were plans to sell many of her things before eventually putting her house on the market, and for the proceeds to benefit the children that she left, but is still a strange experience to see a group of strangers lined up outside your friend’s house. Each one hoping to find little treasures they could take home or resell.

This unexpected scene that found myself in today left me with a couple of thoughts. Ultimately, I am really hopeful that these sales go well for the sake of her kids, who deserve so many good things to happen to them after having suffered such a tragic time so early in their lives. And also, it’s kind of beautiful that today little tokens of my friend are being taken from her former home by unknowing strangers, and they are spreading her energy to new and unexpected places where a part of her will share in new lives, like a pollination of things.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash