Member-only story

The Heartbreak of Selling My San Francisco Home

Mia Hayes
5 min readFeb 20, 2022

After five generations, our family is saying good-bye

Photo by Belle Co from Pexels

It’s a short, uphill walk from where I’m staying on 17th Avenue to my home on 11th. Park Presidio and speeding cars headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge punctuate my progress with a pause, but soon enough the crosswalk turns green, and a robotic voice startles me. “Cross now,” it says.

That’s new, I think, remembering when we had to dodge cars to cross the busy thoroughfare.

The fog hasn’t retreated to the coastline yet, but it’s only 1:30. If the Richmond District ever sees sun, it’s usually from 2:57–3:26, although, I’ve heard the previous two days were sunny and Spring-like.

I’m happy I missed those.

I’ve flown in for the day to meet our real estate agent, Meredith. After being in the family for over 100 years, we are selling our family home and my father-in-law, Joe, is moving to DC to be near us. James and I are thrilled with Joe’s decision. We’ve been begging him to come since Molly passed two years earlier.

The fog and a brisk ocean breeze makes the air fresh and light, and after living in the humid DC metro area, I’ve forgotten how stepping outside can be invigorating as opposed to suffocating. At the top of the hill I turn left on 11th. From up here, I can see where my…

--

--

Mia Hayes
Mia Hayes

Written by Mia Hayes

40-something trying to live several lifetimes at once. Stay-at-home author, mom, and wife.

Responses (2)