The Power of Thought

My apologies for taking so long to continue the odyssey, there has been a lot going on in our lives, including starting the process of buying a new home. Even that process adds to the awe and inspiration that my Deb manifests. We have been talking about moving for quite some time, but it was always just talk. Deb decides to rejuvenate her positive thinking skills after a watching a video called "The Secret" that talks about the Law of Attraction whereby we attract everything in our lives to ourselves based on our thinking. Anyway, to make a long story short, she decides to write down the house that we want. She types on a piece of paper, "I have a four bedroom ranch house with hardwood floors, a finished basement and an attached garage." (Note that she did not request that it be wheelchair accessible.) A couple of weeks later, she tells the father of a friend of hers, who happens to be a real estate broker, that she's looking for a four-bedroom ranch with hardwood floors, a basement and attached garage.

Now I'm thinking, "There is no way we find exactly that anywhere near our price range". A week later, Charles, the real estate broker calls and wants us to look at a house. In a nice neighborhood, four bedrooms. I decide to humor my wife and go along. We get there and the first thing I see is the attached garage. Ok, so far so good...but I'm just here to look. We get Deborah inside and, low and behold, hardwood floors! Joe says, "...and you have to see the basement. Its finished, with another bathroom and kitchen down there." WOW! It was like Jeanie had said, "Yes, Master!" and blinked her eyes, peeling the house right off the paper slapped it in the middle of this nice middle-class neighborhood.

On the refrigerator was a fragment of the famous poem, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, which read:

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham,
drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

If ever there was a sign, the line, "No doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should" would definitely be one. I was still in knots about the affordability. Charles said we were already preapproved by his financing partner. Then he told me the asking price, which was about 20% less than what I had found for comparable houses in comparable neighborhoods, and that included the improvements that the owner was making! There was just one last hurdle ("here you go, Universe, let me see you handle this!") that my overly-analytical mind was throwing out there: the house was not wheelchair-accessible. I couldn't buy a new home that would be a jail for my Sweetie. Even the current owner jokingly asked why she hadn't put "wheelchair-accessible" on her wish-list. Deb replied that she doesn't like to focus on her disability, but she was sure everything would be ok.

As it turns out, when we went back to see the house a second time, the contractor doing the upgrades for the owner is well-versed in ADA building regulations and had some excellent ideas to make the house comfortable for my wife. He really knew his stuff and being the one making current upgrades, could easily incorporate the designs into what was already being done. Another "WOW!"