ADVENTURES IN HOUSESITTING

Finding the Other 6/7ths of Myself

Before the pandemic, I never could have imagined the life I lead now.

It was a Sunday. I don’t recall the exact date in spring 2020, but I know for certain it was the one day of the seven in a week when local law did not allow construction in a residential area. And yet before I opened my eyes, I heard the unmistakable sound of a buzz saw barely muffled by the thin wall between my bed and what was becoming a bar instead of a beauty salon.

“It’s gotten so bad that I’m now having auditory hallucinations,” I thought, still not fully awake.

Spoiler alert: I find a way out of the construction zone by housesitting. I began by caring for two Great Danes that each weigh more than I do. I’d say “go big or go home,” but at that point, I’d sold my home.

But the buzzing and banging continued. I pulled on a sweatshirt, grabbed a mask out of habit, and shuffled down three flights of stairs to investigate. Sure enough, dust and noise emanated from next door…

In “the Before Times,” as I think of our lives prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, my small space in the heart of Washington, DC was all that I needed. My neighbors were courteous and kind and the neighborhood fun and funky. Then in March 2020, like people around the world fortunate to have a job that so allowed, I took my laptop and items from my office home to “flatten the curve” for what we expected to be “just a few weeks.” The construction began a few days later.

August 2021 marked 18 months of working in a one-bedroom space next to the noise that often made me lose my train of thought mid-sentence. Six out of each week’s seven days, I tried to keep calm and carry on next to drilling, hammering, and sanding. There were times, especially in summer 2020, the construction by day gave way to protests, sirens, helicopters, and drones at night. There were points where I truly thought I might lose my job, and I had little doubt that I was losing my sanity.

The noise, combined with the isolation and uncertainty of the pandemic, had left me a fraction of my full self. I knew I needed a change but wasn’t sure where I wanted to go next. When a friend forwarded me information about TrustedHousesitters in a newsletter by Stephanie Perry, I felt like the heavens had opened. In a matter of weeks, I sold my condo, bought an electric vehicle, and started my journey with TrustedHousesitters. I was energized…