Luck, and Finding a Place in the Mountains

Guess my last post was pretty cryptic, and I've been too busy since we've been home to explain. Lots of phoning, researching of bank rates, etc. Well, here it is: we've bought a house in the mountains. I suppose it's safe to say that in the past tense. We made an offer before we left NE New Mexico, the owner countered our offer once we were home, and we accepted the counter, have our financing lined out, and we're just waiting now for the loan to be processed. It's all gone so smoothly that I'm reeling.

When we left on this trip back before Labor Day, we knew once the trade show in Denver was over, that we would be going back to the area we stayed in last July. We made an offer on a house back then, a sort of impulsive, what-a-great-deal kind of offer, that left both of us nervous and testy. Nevertheless, I was heartbroken when that deal fell through, more so than I wanted to admit at the time. The owners were really not ready to part with their vacation home, and we really were not ready to commit ourselves to buying just yet. The time between then and now served us well. We have pored over listings on the Internet, subscribed to a local newspaper, and just generally familiarized ourselves with that part of New Mexico. By the time we got there this trip, and set up the trailer in the same RV park we stayed in with our friends in July, we had a game plan lined out. We spent five days looking at real estate. We saw eleven houses/cabins, some that had appealed to us online, others that were new. We met with three different real estate agents. We kept going back to a little house we had seen on the first day.

It was the second house we looked at on the first day we were there. It's in the same development as the house we made the offer on in July. It doesn't have the view we wanted. It is much older, built in 1966, and out of date. But it has possibilities. It has a forest of trees around it. It has over an acre of land that go with it. It has a terrific deck and a high beamed ceiling, a fireplace, and two baths. Best of all, we can afford it. We took lots of pictures.

After we got home, I spent the first few days doing nothing but contacting lenders, insurance providers, taxing entities, and then fielded telephone calls that came back from all of them. In the end, I went with my old lender but found a new insurance company. I may change the insurance on the Texas house eventually, too. I've never been convinced I was getting the best rates here anyway. My SO basically left all the "high-finance" to me. Now and then, he would put in a comment, but he feels I'm better at negotiating than he is, and oddly, after years of deferring this job, I find that he's right. I am good at it. No one is more surprised by that than me.

So now we're in the waiting stage. We will go back to New Mexico to close on the house on October 29. I have promised to try to keep from going berserk with excitement, to reign in my desire to shout it to the world, a promise I'm sort of breaking right here, but who reads this thing anyway? I have told my son and my aunt, but not some of the other people who are important to us, like Daddy for one, or my SO's son and daughter-in-law. They have their own preoccupations at the moment, being transferred to NYC, selling their house, relocating to such a different kind of life than they have lead up to now. I'm dreading what Daddy will say. He is pretty dependent on me at this time in his life, but we're not planning to go live there just yet, or even to stay there more than a few weeks at a time right now. I hope he'll be happy for us.

OK, here's the thing: I'm lucky. I suppose that's the whole point of this blog today. I feel lucky. I've always felt lucky. Don't get me wrong, I have had some bad things happen to me in my life, even some tragedies, but I've always managed to bounce back, or my luck has always bounced back. What is luck anyway? It's really not winning at the blackjack table. It's not stumbling on a pot of gold. It's not stumbling on anything really. I think it's more about optimism, believing that a thing is possible, and recognizing the gems that life scatters along your pathway. I got a good start by being born in a great country, into a family that, no matter how imperfect, loved me. I've been blessed with good health, reasonable good looks and intelligence. But I've also always been able to -- finally -- look on the bright side. I choose to be happy. I believe that we make our own luck, our own happiness. It's a decision, luck is. And happiness.

Now, I feel compelled to mention that I am still working on the novel. It's been a little hard to quiet my mind enough to focus, but it helps that I'm home now and back with all my notes, research, chapter cuts, and the rest. I'm glad I don't throw things out like some of my writer friends do. A lot of this novel is done, nearly all of it, in fact. It just needs to be pieced together -- like making a quilt. I've always contended that writing a novel has more to do with architecture.

Onward ....