pool table

It was summer and I had sold my house.  I already had my next house picked out, or rather my next house had already picked me.  That’s a tale for another day…

Apparently, however, my new house and I had not coordinated our transfer of ownership dates and it looked like I was going to be homeless for a while.

I am really good at going with the flow.

There are storage units galore in the US of A so any stuph I wanted to move from casa to casa would be covered.  I figured I could avail myself of a fine air-conditioned storage space during the homeless interim.  My kitty had made friends with the new buyer’s son and he offered to be bed buddies with my kitty until my new space unfolded.  There was a sweet one bedroom ohana, guest-house for those not fluent in Hawaiiana, that was available on a month-to-month basis in an area that was convenient.  And, most important of all, Sweetie was up for an adventure.

All the boxes were ticked so I signed over ownership on the old house with only a vague sense of ‘what the heck am I doing?’ and handed over the keys.

For about four weeks I traveled to visit friends and family.  It was an amazing feeling to be without responsibility for a while.  I had been blessed with the joys of owning my own home – well to be fair, me and the mortgage company owned my home – for years.  For the first time in decades I wasn’t wondering whether I’d paid the utility bills or whether the lights would be off when I got home from adventuring.

What I discovered after a while is that I really appreciate a home base to return to when I have been on the road.  Living out of a duffel bag (thank you Patagonia!) is fun, but I have the attention span of a gnat and it doesn’t take long for me to get tired of the same old clothes day after day after day after…well, you get the idea.

After over a month of traveling, I made my way back to my tiny space and settled in to wait for the new house to come together.

Small spaces are great for scaling down.  It is what feng shui is all about.  It’s aim is to live in harmony with your surroundings.  Small space, lots of stuff, not so much harmony.  Small space, small amount of stuff, good energy flow and good harmony.  That’s feng shui in a nut shell.

I believe that because I am so good at letting things go, there is an empty vortex that attracts new objects into my life all the time.  It’s kind of like the black hole in sci-fi movies.  Even the starship USS Enterprise can not resist the inevitable pull of the black hole.  Add that to the fact that my mom owns a junktique store and can not pass up a garage sale…well…let’s just say, collecting runs in the family.  The ability to create a void and the genetics to collect…I have DNA of a perfect storm for gathering goodies.

The first thing I gathered were pineapple bar stools from the consignment store.  I paid fifty bucks for two of them.  With a fresh coat of paint and some cushions they would work great in my home-to-be.  In the meantime they made it a little tricky parking the car in the carport.  Sweetie was not amused.  His absent sense of humor returned a few days later when he came home from a party at a friend’s house with a matching pineapple bar stool.  He proudly informed me that the chair had been languishing in the backyard of the party house for a while and the owner gladly gave him the chair for free.  Sweetie is nothing if not competitive.  Me fifty dollars; Sweetie free…point Sweetie.

My next acquisition was a pool cue from a thrift store.  It needed a new tip but was otherwise quite a find.  When I brought it to our cozy abode, Sweetie was speechless (a rarity to be sure!).  I think he envisioned me showing up with a full blown pool table at any minute.  I thought that it might be a bit too cramped and was absolutely willing to wait until we moved into the new house.

Over the next few weeks, I went to the local pool table store.  I looked at the tables, the felt, the pockets and the accessories.  I narrowed down what I wanted and came back again the next week to firm up my vision.  I felt the felts and smelled the leather pockets.  I listened to everything the oh-so-patient owner had to share.  Week after week I visited with the man at the shop.

The new house finally came together.  Even after I had finally moved into my new abode, I continued to stop by the pool table shop to see what else I could learn.

Sweetie and I got slightly settled and I got clear that I really wanted a pool table.  I knew exactly where it was going to go, right where the blueprint declared the dining room table belonged.  Being the active individual that I am, I think sitting around a fancy dinner table is highly over-rated.  A pool table sounded way more fun than a dining table.  When we need a place to eat we have pineapple bar stools for the island in the kitchen.  How fun is that?

So with my resolve made, I trekked down to the pool table store once more.

“You are never going to believe this”, said the store owner as I jingled my way through his store door.  “A guy that bought a table from me has run into financial woes and is needing to unload his pool table.  It’s brand new in the storage room and we have just been waiting for him to call us to install it.  He’s already paid for everything including delivery and installation.  Now he wants to sell it.  I told him I would put you in contact with each other.”

HOLY AWESOMENESS.  I was one phone call away from my dream of owning a custom pool table at a potentially ridiculously amazing price.

I made the call, set up the money transfer and boom, just like that, I was the proud owner of a brand new pool table for my dining room.  Plus, it was a bargain!

Sweetie drove down and met me.  He picked out an amazing combo of felts.  A few days later, the pool table was delivered and we celebrated by playing a couple rounds of pool.  Turns out that Sweetie is a pool shark.  Did I mention that he’s a tad competitive?  Two points for Sweetie.  Sigh.

Manifestation is sort of like writing a story.  You start with a general idea of where you’re going.  You collect all the details needed to tell your tale.  You get a clear direction of what you want the end to look like.  Then you create.

In the immortal words of the A-Team’s Col. Hannibal Smith, ‘I love it when a plan comes together’.

Take aim at your dreams.  Create your reality.

I’d love to hear about it when you do.

Manifest Your Magical Story, Beautiful Friends-

Sylver