Subject to change, and still on time….

“Everything in the Universe is subject to change–and everything is on schedule!” (bumper sticker from Quest Bookshop, Charlottesville,VA)

The smirking mask pictured here was found after we discovered that the beachfront home we were cautiously excited about would not work for us. Yes, as of this very minute, we are still anchor-less in (almost) Seattle. Like my new friend here, the gods are surely laughing about all of this, and for the moment, I can’t get too upset about that possibility. I am actually sitting here with a grin on my face too, because I happen to be in gratitude for the signs which led us to not renting the home on the beach.

It was the day after Christmas. We had Christmas at our youngest son’s apartment in college-town Bellingham, which was fun: He had a tree he and his roommate chopped down from some unknown location we should probably not ask about, and it was decorated with the ornaments we did not sell in our estate sale. With me as director, both our boys were on the production line of putting together a full fledged turkey dinner–including how to make the all-important gravy–witnessed from a kitchen-bar command post by my mom, their “Oma”. She twinkled at the whole scene. It was warm, cozy, it was family, and to have traveled thousands of miles for this: well worth the long drive. We discussed our upcoming move to a seaside house, we discussed their dreams for themselves, we all were in gratitude for life.

The day after Christmas brought us back to our temporary cottage and a casual morning discussion about the move and when we would submit the deposit to secure the house. And then…

I felt a deep desire to go to the house right then and there, ostensibly to see what effects a very high tide had on the property, and also to take a nice long post-holiday walk.
Well….

We got there just in time to be greeted by yet another nice part-time neighbor-to-be, only to discover a pertinent fact: He will be demolishing his beach home of 45 years, move the foundation, and build an entirely new larger home…next door. Project will take over a year and a half. It will be very, very noisy. Yes.
sign #1

With that news rattling in our brains, we walked the beach. There was a nice long beachwalk possibility to the south of the house. We had gone a few hundred feet, only to see a snarly, growling woman and her rather meek dog come out of a beachside home, in order to state VERY CLEARLY that we were on private land, and do not trespass. I tried to make nice by saying we’ll be her new neighbors, but she would have none of it: She’s paid her taxes in order to have private land, damn it, and well, you get the gist….
sign # 2.

Now usually, I look for 3 signs before I act in any way, but the third wasn’t forth coming until much later  that night. Admittedly backpedaling, and in a bit of a panic, I went back to the several websites with rental offerings. While reviewing all the particulars of this house, I noticed that I had made a mistake in my reading the details on this house, and it was actually listed for $200 more than the outer limit our current budget would support, which put the rent into the stressful $$ range for us.

And that didn’t feel right. At all.

So we are still in the labyrinth.
And I am grateful for paying attention to my intuition before we made a rather messy commitment.

From the outside, I would say this looks rather challenging and crazy-making. We need to be out of this place by early January.  But my insides tell another tale, based on the the above bumper sticker quote. Call me crazy, but I know we are right on schedule for our new home and work. I have no evidence of this. None.
Except….

All along in this journey, we have been provided for–sometimes at the eleventh hour, or even 11:59 and 59 seconds, the midnight bell only a second away. Yet we haven’t turned into pumpkins. We are not starving. We are weary, truly. And to say we are entirely at peace with this lilies-of-the-field approach would be overstating it a smidge. Life is messy. Life is interesting. Life is an opportunity to choose and choose and choose again, and will always be.

So I am choosing to take a walk in the brief sunshine between the raindrops. I am choosing to not give up. And I am choosing to let y’all know how grateful I am for your loving energetic support.

As usual, I will keep you posted as to our next moves. Meanwhile, smile. The gods are, and the Universe is too, so why not?

cheers, Elke