How to Sell a Beach

Reading Time: 1.6 minutes

In 2020, Marina had a year she would never forget. There was the pandemic, the property boom, and the kids being at home. Then, her husband lost his job. On the good side, real estate was booming in Nashville. There had to be something positive. Jimmy, the agency boss, who was addicted to clichés, told all the staff: “Work hard. Good times don’t last. Focus on the fundamentals. Sell the sizzle, not the steak.”

By summer 2021, Marina knew it was time for a break or she would break. With her husband and the kids, she rented a condo on North Ocean Drive in Palm Beach Shores and settled down for two weeks of … stopping. She was certain that Florida beach would work its magic. She was right, in a way.

When they all got down to the sand, her eldest boy, Elijah, said: “Mom, can we buy this beach?” Everyone laughed. Marina said: “I wish I could sell it.”

A couple of days in, she got time to be by herself. She set herself up with a foldup chair and umbrella, and then she … stopped. She closed her eyes. The waves hissed and rumbled. A seagull squawked. Marina tasted the salty tang of the ocean air as she lay in that healing border between sleep and wakefulness.

But, her mind did not stop … not completely. Twenty years in real estate had taught her always to be alert; ready for whatever came next. She smiled remembering what Elijah had said. In a way, she had bought the beach … at least temporarily, a tiny part of it, and these few moments of a delicious peace that now washed over her. She owned that feeling. It was hers.

But, if Marina had bought this feeling, who had sold it to her? She opened her eyes to the beach.

The answer was simple. She had sold it to herself.