The Adventure Begins

A year ago, I hadn’t quite gotten to the idea of adventure! Adventure? Outside we were up to our knees in mud. Jim's office had been demolished to a dirt floor with 2x4s and jacks holding up the house. The good workers had quit. The inexperience or unqualified workers were in charge and the day-labourers didn't speak English. Well, I guess that is an adventure of sort, just not the kind of life I usually attribute to “adventure.”

While I wasn’t quite thinking about “adventure,” I did maintain the thought that somehow this was going to work out. Then good things started to happen. Friends showed up to help us fire the crooked contractor, hire the good workers back, and get a vision of how to complete the project. We started exploring the possibility of selling the house because it was obvious that our retirement money would not support the kind of bills we were paying!

In the midst of finishing the house and putting it on the market 6 months later, we made an offer for a beautiful house in Grass Valley, across the street from good friends. That’s when I started thinking that the adventure of the rest of our lives was about to begin. It wasn’t quite that easy.

The final tally of our repair and renovation was about $100,000 higher than we expected and our house didn’t sell right away and we had to lower the price. The owner of the pretty house with the beautiful grounds and garden wouldn’t come down on her price. I guess the adventure was to rethink our plans!

We had been living in our mountain home for several months and knew it was truly a vacation home and not a place we’d want to live permanently. We decided to look for a different home in Grass Valley that simply isn’t in the charming area we had come to love. The very first house we looked at was the one we bought. What a wise agent we had. She patiently took us to see many other houses after showing us that first gem. By the end of that weekend, we were in escrow for three properties. Buyers had arrived in Berkeley, we hadn’t cancelled the agreement on the first house and we were already in agreement on the second house. That’s an adventure right there.

Three months later, we moved into our new house! It was almost a year since we realized that we had to leave Berkeley and 6 months of that we lived in Fish Camp, CA. How is it that I have chuckled to myself so many times about how this adventure has begun. When I think about it seriously, I realize that I actually used Deliberate Attraction in its best possible way – asking for what I want and letting the universe decide how to give it to me. This didn’t turn out the way I had expected – it turned out better.

I’ve taught and written about Deliberate Attraction for many years and in the last year, I used it extensively. Here are some of the things and people I have attracted:

• Larry and Nadine who got us interested in living in Grass Valley.
• Bill helped us know how to fire the contractor and guided us to oversee the project.
• Hilberto and Javier with their family and friends returned to work joyfully and skilfully for us.
•  Kevin helped us diffuse our anger by preparing a lawsuit against the contractor. We never acted on it, but the process was cathartic.
•  Pam our support real estate agent in Grass Valley help with both agreements to buy homes.
• Barbara who so graciously allowed us to put only 1% down on her beautiful home and to wait 6 months to sell our house in Berkeley.
•  Don who wrote a thoughtful legal document for us to present to Barbara.
•  Kathie, who was the obvious choice to be our Berkeley real estate agent and whose expertise and wisdom kept us stable when our house didn’t sell as expected.
• Helyn whose wonderful home we bought. She and her husband created an unique space and we get to enjoy it and share it with friend sand family who visit.

How did I attract all that? It was basic. I believed it would all turn out OK. I admit that there were moments when I worried -- a lot of moments, actually. But under the worry, I felt patient and peaceful that everything would be good – even adventurous.

I learned to distract myself when things seemed bleak. Researching, buying, cooking, and eating nutritious food became favourite distractions – 15 pounds worth of distractions, but good distractions they were. When I would see Jim getting a little more frazzled than usual, I’d break out a jigsaw puzzle and that would soothe him for hours – even days.

While I relished the idea of being in Fish Camp in the winter, the snow didn’t come as expected. So I filled my days with clearing the yard of flammable debris and then I sent Christmas cards and letters and made Christmas presents – something I hadn’t done for years. We entertained a fair number of guests and eventually, it was February and we could move to Grass Valley.

We’ve been here three weeks today. We’re unpacked and settled and still pinching ourselves that this dream has come true. We are living in a fabulous house (better than I even imagined) and it’s just uphill from an adorable downtown. We’ve already had a lot of guests and expect a lot more. Life is very sweet.