(How to) Manifest Destiny

Good hell. You guys and this move are like some cosmic anomaly.

Ashley Johnson

My friend Ashley isn’t wrong. Call it fate, or karma, or extremely good luck, but for whatever reason, everything has been going pretty smoothly with this move so far. I’d knock on wood, but it’s all been boxed up.

Case in point: we sold our house without ever listing it. Hell, we never even signed a contract with our agent.

Here’s how it all went down:

A coworker of Tara’s just happened to be house hunting with her boyfriend, who recently moved here from Louisiana. She’d been to our house before and loved it, so she asked if they could swing by last Monday and take a gander. We had no problem with that, figuring it was a long shot that they’d actually be interested in buying the place.

When they started talking numbers and asked to come by again for a more detailed look, we realized it wasn’t such a long shot after all.

They asked us what price we would accept to keep the house off the market and let them have first crack at it. Numbers were bandied about and we came to a consensus Thursday morning. It’s pretty close to our asking price, and because none of the agents did any work, ours will be handling the entire transaction for a mere $1,000 — which is a huge plus for us, not having to pay commission.

Friday afternoon, we signed all the paperwork. Just like that, it’s done…with nary a “For Sale” sign gracing the front yard. My head is still spinning.

“You’re a master manifester,” my sister-in-law, Esther, said a few months ago, when we first floated the idea of a move to Madison during a phone call. “If anybody can make it happen, you can.”

I don’t think manifester is technically a word, but she’s not wrong. Manifestation means to create something or turn an idea into reality. In psychology, it means using our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to bring something to our physical reality. I have an excellent track record of manifesting what I want and turning it into reality through sheer force of will. I’ve done it with jobs, cars, houses, a writing career. Even a wife, ha. I’ve always been an extremely optimistic person by nature (to the point where it sometimes annoys others). I’m not a glass-is-half-full guy; I’m a glass-is-so-full-it’s-spilling-over-but-that’s-okay-we’ve-got-plenty-of-paper-towels fella. I don’t care. There’s a lot to be said for the power of positive thinking, and the moves I’ve made in life are a shining example of that.

It’s why I knew, once we committed to this crazy scheme, that it was happening.

Things are moving at absolute breakneck speed now. We are downsizing as much as possible to accommodate the U-Haul truck, small apartment, and storage unit we’ll be relying on, so I listed a bunch of furniture on Facebook Marketplace on Friday. Sold our sectional right away. The recliner went on Saturday. Today, somebody bought the dining room table. We are also planning a big garage sale next weekend. All of this translates into cash, which naturally is welcome as we make this leap into the unknown.

All weekend (and every evening last week) was spent packing. By Sunday evening, we are about 80% finished. What’s left are stragglers and things we’ll still need this week; clothes, a few pots and pans, miscellaneous condiments and seasonings. And things that by necessity have to wait until the last minute: mattresses, toiletries, beer, a/k/a the essentials.

I still have tropical fish in my aquarium, but a guy’s supposed to come by this evening to take them off my hands. Hats off to my algae eater, who has been happily swimming around in there since 11/16/19. I cleared out all the aquarium decor yesterday, and a few minutes later, Tara said, “The algae eater is missing.” Turns out he was stuck up inside one of the rocks, and had been sitting out in the direct sun in the backyard, out of water, for a good five minutes. Yet he was just fine after I rescued him, acting like he hadn’t almost air-drowned.

I’m going to miss that guy.

And a shout out to Sydney, too. Four years ago, as we were preparing to leave Vancouver, WA for Rapid City, she basically freaked out over the move. Went on a hunger strike, got sick, and we racked up over $1,000 in vet bills trying to figure out what was wrong. At our lowest point, we actually feared we might have to put her down! In the end, it turns out nothing was wrong other than the disruption to her routine. Cats, I tell ya! This time, she’s acting very nonchalant over the whole thing. Could be because she’s asleep 22 hours of the day.

So, this is it! One last week of work for both of us. I’m sure it’s going to fly by. Then we get the U-Haul next Monday and hit the road the following day.

That’s only nine days away!!

39 thoughts on “(How to) Manifest Destiny”

  1. Holy sh*t! What a whirlwind of excitement and great timing with the house sale. I have to ask- is the majority of the dvd collection making the move or do the new owners get to inherit it?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Do you really have to ask?! Every last DVD is Wisconsin-bound. In fact, I put aside all our holiday DVDs and the Lord of the Rings boxed set so we can watch those in our apartment this fall/winter. The rest will go into storage until we have a house.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. I think it’s less manifesting and more networking/ working your butts off! But congrats either way, very smart of you to sell quickly as the housing market crashes and rent until it’s a buyer’s market again.

    Hope Sydney continues to be blasé/ sleep. It’s so hard to get cats to eat again when they stop.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you! Maybe it’s a combination of all three. Either way, here we go! When the housing market started its slide, I thought, wow…this is really crappy timing. But maybe it will all turn out beneficial for us in the long run. We certainly got what we wanted on the selling end. Just gotta hope those interest rates don’t become too astronomical.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  5. That’s an amazing house sale and it does sound like everything is falling into place. The move is meant to be! But don’t forget the essential beer! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Manifesting – optimism – a good fish story — this post has it all!! This is so awesome and couldn’t happen to nicer people. I love hearing how well everything is falling in place (albeit with a lot of work from you two) – it’s so fun to see how people make their dreams happen and you two are amazing! Have a great last week of work!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. I am beyond impressed. The quick sale of the house doesn’t surprise me that much, the market is crazy and they’re going fast up here as well. But the fact you’re 80% packed and ready to go in such a short time leaves me breathless. It took us 3 solid months of selling, organizing and packing to close up when we moved. You’re a pro!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you! It doesn’t hurt that we just did all this four year ago, so it’s still kinda fresh in our minds. Plus, it’s amazing what you can get done when you’re staring down a tight deadline. I guess the writer in me has helped inspire the mover in me!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. We would still be deciding what to sell and what to take. Huge “get” on that house sale, especially the commission as you noted. Kudos for the algae eater for hanging in there, as well as Sydney…who clearly is now a professional mover just like the rest of the family!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I guess the nice thing is, we don’t have time to decide what to keep/sell. And even with the biggest U-Haul available, it’s still going to be a tight fit. The less we need to take, the better!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    2. No kidding, that’s a HUGE get! I remember reading in Freakonomics that relators are not your friends, and you put that into action. HUGE kudos!!!

      With this pattern, all I can suggest is… buy a lotto ticket, quick! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. Many years ago I attended an affirmations class, and came out of it with a quote that stuck, “man moves towards and becomes like that which he thinks about.” As opposed to the new ager, “law of attraction” where things move the opposite direction. In either case, it helps to have your head in the right space to get things moving.

    But I bet the cat still thinks you’ve forgotten who really owns the house.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. Some things are meant to be, hallelujah! I am in awe of how quickly you’ve been able to pack it up, sell it off, and prepare to move. With a cat in tow, even. Kudos to you and safe travels.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  16. Pingback: Real (non-plastic) flamingos and a pretzel the size of my head. – Mark Petruska
  17. Pingback: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. – Mark My Words
  18. Pingback: That Voodoo That We Do – Mark My Words

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s