The Wednesday the Universe Showed Up

One of the main pieces of the puzzle towards making this 180 days plan take place, was finding The Perfect Person(s) to move into my home while I traveled. Without that piece, there was most likely no puzzle - or at least, this was what I was telling myself.

Perfect Person meant someone excited about moving into my artsy little 1930’s Anacortes cottage for six months, and love it as much as it would love them. Someone who had no furniture of their own. Someone who could joyfully afford the rent - and (and that was a big one), someone who would be super sweet to my cat, while I was gone. As I kept telling myself, all I needed was one, but as time passed and we approached the beginning of August, that “one” seemed more and more elusive.

With the help of friends in letting the word out, I talked with many people, brought a few of them to the house, and got really close to having found a good fit at least once.

But I had not found The One.

As July came to an end, a friend asked me what my plan B was, what I would do if The One did not show up.

That was a good question, and for a short while - about 10 minutes - I went there. I turned a few alternatives around in my head, came up with a couple less shiny possibilities, and even considered bagging the whole thing altogether.

And then, just as I instantly felt my energy starting to dim, I remembered what I often advise my clients: make a date. Make a date for what you think the latest possible time to panic / consider plan B / make a decision could be. Another way to ask this is to say: how long do you feel you can wait in peace and let life do its thing before you panic / consider plan B / make a decision.

It is my experience that when we can check within ourselves and honestly and precisely answer this question, we are able to return to peace of mind, that most powerful place from which we are best able to partner with the universe, co-create and manifest. Sometimes the answer will “by 10 am tomorrow morning,” and sometimes it will “by December 25 of this year.”

For me, the answer was by August 15.

Ok. I could do this. It was August 1st, and I could let life do its thing until August 15. Then, if needed, I would switch gear, knowing that there was a better plan asking to come through.

When the voice from inside my head came up and peppered me with “So, what’s your plan B, huh? What you gonna do, huh? Huh?” I would simply answer - as I would to a relentless toddler - that all was fine, that I was on it, and that we had a date to chat about this on August 15. Little by little, the voice would go take a nap and let me be. We had a plan, we had a firm date, we would talk. That was good enough. For now.

Doing this allowed me to direct my full energy towards finding The One, to flow, to be available for magic. I was no longer asking for Plan A while preparing for Plan B. I was no longer driving down the freeway with the breaks on.

A couple of days passed, and I continued to “pray while I moved my feet:” I meditated, I visualized, I breathed AND I put ads on Craigslist, talked with people, answered questions, and peeked behind all doors. When the toddler voice showed up, I reminded it of our date, and it curled up for another nap.

On August 4, as I was working at home, an email arrived. The subject line showed that it was yet another response to my Craigslist ad, and before I opened it, I felt my arms  tingle.

As I read it, I fell into that quiet space, the one that says: “pay attention.” On my screen was a narrative from someone who sounded very much like The One. The last line was synchronistic enough that instead of drafting a long response, I simply sent back one line, saying that I thought we should talk.

Minutes later, a lovely sounding young woman and I were on the phone, she on the East coast, me on my red couch. Later that morning, I walked her through each part of my home via a Skype session. The next day, we agreed that she would send me her deposit and that I would pull my ad.  She said that she was hoping to make it here in time to meet me before I left.

We both knew that it felt right, and we both knew that we were putting a lot of trust in each other. I was going to leave her my home and my cat, without meeting her face to face. On her end, she was about to send me a good bit of money without having seen the house. Really, could she be sure that it even existed?

Trust we did. I pulled the ad, and she sent the money. The idea was for her to make it here in time to meet me (and Meethra the cat) and for me to give a personal tour of her new home, properly pass it on to her. If it didn’t work out, if the drive took longer than expected, I would leave her the key and have a friend show her around. We both seemed at peace with it.

The rest of August passed sweetly, and a few days ago I began putting some of my personal stuff away, getting the house ready for her. To say that there was not any moment when I wondered if I had lost my mind would be inaccurate. I am not sure what was going on for her.

She called me from the road and said that she would arrive the evening before we left. We agreed to meet at 6 pm on Wednesday.

Wednesday, cleaning the house, filling boxes (by the way, moving out of one’s home for six months invites a really interesting and particular flavor of Lightening Up!) I let a few concerned thoughts show up. What if the way she felt on email / Skype / the phone was purely a projection on my end? What if she arrived and there was none of that magic for either one of us, and she did not like the house? It reminded me of online dating, except that we had already committed six months of our lives to each other. Yikes.

I guess  that really, my main question was: will the universe show up?

At 5:45 I went upstairs and started to stuff my backpack for the 5th time.

At 6, I heard a car pull up in front of the house.

I walked to the window and looked down.

My heart laughed.

Not only had the universe shown up, but my new friend had driven up in it!

I don’t remember exactly what my first in-person words to her were, from the upstairs window of what was now our house, but I know that they were words of wonderment.

She beamed at me from down below, confirming that this was indeed her car,  the Subaru in which she had just crossed the country; and that it was indeed the galaxy beautifully painted on the hood by an artist friend of hers.

I ran downstairs, we hugged, I got to see the whole car, and she got to see her new home - and her new cat.

Our trust was rewarded, the universe had shown up, and all was very, very good.

Yesterday morning, I walked through each and every room of my home by myself, thanking it, loving it, and in my heart passing it on to this lovely young woman who would move in just a few hours.

Then I walked out, closed the door behind me, climbed into the truck and wondered once more if I had lost my mind.

Here's to adventures, to co-creating with the universe, and to having it show up right at our door!

XOXO