We all give into superstitions when the day becomes dark. We say things to make ourselves feel better. We really do create stories about good luck and bad luck. Much like the following:
Now, what I’m going to say is really not that big a deal. Except, it was a really big deal when it happened.
We put an offer on a house in Northern California, which I must say, is like the 1800’s land grab.
Nothing stays on the market very long and if something is super great, well, it is gone in days. Not only gone in days, but above the asking price. Bidding wars all over the place. It’s crazy.
Notice the house in the image to the left. That’s about what you get for the price. Kinda depressing!
Anyway, we found the perfect home. No, not the one above! I mean perfect. Out of town, in nature. Like Goldilocks, it was not too small, not too big. Just right.
It had been on the market for one day. We were first to see it the next day.
Did I say it was not too small, not too big, just right? So, we had to scurry to put a bid in. We were second. Then we waited.
Two days went by. Our realtor kept us in the loop, simply saying, “I’m keeping you in the loop. Nothing happening.”
Our good luck would have it that we placed an early offer in on the house. As per advice, we bid above the asking price. Then the bad luck. We could not close until another 7 weeks when our house in the east would sell. So, finally, after a few nail-biting days, we got the call that our bad luck had set in. Others were lucky enough to get this perfect house.
Good luck turned to bad luck.
What do you do when you suffer a setback? There is a natural tendency to whine and moan and wring hands and push our fists at fate that had not been kind to us.
Or,
Be patient and watch what has happened, like an episode on a soap opera.
Look, it’s not easy to stay optimistic. I mean, I was already intellectually furnishing this perfect house, doing workshops in my mind (just what this perfect house was for), and having amazing, fun weekends with family and friends.
None of that was ever going to happen.
That’s when my daughter reminded me of the “Good luck, bad luck, who knows” Taoist story from long-ago China.
Read the story here, then I’ll tell you what happened next.
And now, the end of the story…at least to date.
Another house has not come to us yet. We are just waiting.
However, the perfect house, just like the perfect relationship, often has underlying blemishes. We were told that the new owners are now in dispute to see if the old owners will pay for the foundational problems that were not found upon inspection. Not a lot of details, except we now know we were really lucky to have had the bad luck.
Keep that farmer in mind next time you suffer a setback. Stay optimistic because……good luck, bad luck, who knows?
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