Who doesn’t love Shel Silverstein? If you have kids (or if you were a kid), you’ve likely read “The Giving Tree” or “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” They’re both well-known and well-loved books. Shel Silverstein was a singer-song writer, a cartoonish, an author, a poet, and a playwright. One of his most beloved books, “The Missing Piece Meets the Big O,” is a personal favorite. It’s about a little pointy wedge that rolls along looking for the perfect match. Some of the pieces it meets along the way are too small, others are too big. Some fit, but they just don’t roll. The missing piece feels pretty sad on its journey until it meets the Big O, which ultimately results in the Missing Piece learning that relationships don’t complete us. Rather, they help us grow and let us become more fully ourselves.
Your Perfect Match
You might be wondering what a children’s book has to do with real estate. Nothing really, as the book is about relationships and about you becoming more fully yourself. Still, if you’re willing to play along, I think there are some things you can draw from the book that may parallel your quest for the perfect home. For example. the missing piece rolls along looking for the perfect match. As a homebuyer, are you looking for the perfect match? As you “roll along” looking at homes, do you find that some are too small and others are too big? Do you feel as if some just don’t “roll” with what you have in mind? In the story, the missing piece gets sad and discouraged. If you haven’t found your “missing piece,” are you feeling discouraged? Sad?
There’s a sweet part in the book where the Missing Piece finds a place to fit, but after a while, it no longer fits because it grew. What about the home you’re currently living in? Was it once a perfect match? Have you outgrown it? Does it no longer fit with your current season in life because things have changed for you? Is it time to “roll” on? Whether your current home was once a perfect fit or whether the perfect fit remains an elusion, don’t despair. Read on.
Encouragement and Determination
In the book, the Missing Piece needs encouragement and determination to fulfill his dreams. So.Do.You. Shel Silverstein was a children’s author, but his books were for adults, too. Perhaps more so because they speak to our deepest longings and fears. We are not unlike the Missing Piece in Silverstein’s book. We struggle, we search, we grow. And, we need help. The good news is that there is help. Help from your Realtor, your lender, and from other professionals who can come alongside of you on your journey, much like the Big O did for the Missing Piece.
The Missing Piece is a story of self-love and discovery and behind the author’s simple words is this profound truth: there is no such thing as a perfect match. The same holds true for homes — there is no perfect match. But, here’s the thing. In the story, the Missing Piece didn’t give up. The Missing Piece continued to look. And, the Missing Piece remained open. Open to possibilities. Are you?
What you want in a home may not be what you can afford or even what you can find. What you end up with might be very different from what you envision. But, that doesn’t mean that what you end up with isn’t as valuable. Perhaps it will be more valuable, because along the way, you’ve grown, you’ve adapted, and you’ve learned that it isn’t the perfect home (or the perfect match) that will make you happy. Rather, it’s rejecting the idea that there is a perfect home that will make you happy, and instead, being perfectly happy with the home (and the life) you have.
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