From Obstacles to Possibilities
I spent 7 months full time in the motorhome in 2006 travelling across the U.S. and back – visiting family and friends and seeing new things. I was in Traverse City, MI – late June – a spot where my family vacationed when I was a child and home to my Great-Aunt Betty. The mid-west heat and humidity made me homesick for the west, the mountains and Montana and one afternoon I looked at the Montana real estate online site and saw… 1 bedroom, 1 bath house on 8 acres on a road I knew and liked…. I had a friend look at it for me – should I fly back?? She looked, called me and said I should, that it was “me” and a special piece of property. I was on the ‘net booking a flight when I panicked – it just did not feel right. I regrouped, phoned her and told her I would wait until I returned in late July and look – if it was right, it would be there.
Late July I arrived back in Montana and set up in an RV park near Glacier National Park. The house was still on the market and the price had been reduced. I had an appointment to see it within a couple days of returning. I was sure it would be perfect – it wasn’t… The yard was overgrown, the front porch needed help, the interior had this low ceiling, goofy light fixtures, the garage had no power to it, the woods badly needed cleanup…on and on – all I saw was stuff that needed to be done and needed money to do it. I had been overwhelmed by my last house and really wanted something simpler…
I went away disappointed and disheartened. I decided to look at modest homes, with a bit of yard that could be fenced and try “city” living. I made lists from the real estate site, drove past many homes in many neighborhoods. I looked at some. On my birthday I was looking at a couple of houses in a subdivision – new homes, nice houses, perfect landscaping – in my price range. I stood in one and looked out past the neighboring houses to a nice view. All I could think about was the goofy little house in the woods.
I spent that birthday afternoon walking through the woods and the house and felt like I had come home. The rightness of that place – for me – turned all of the obstacles into possibilities. Suddenly I saw the opportunity to have something I had dreamed of. It didn’t look exactly like my “dream” but it had the possibility to be that and maybe more.
From obstacles to possibilities – it happens with people too… people who cross our path who at first it seems like there are differences or distances of some sort that make friendship or closeness seem impossible – but some connection, some intangible want or need changes things.
I’ve learned to catch myself when everything in my path seems like an obstacle – and REALLY look – into my heart – to see if maybe, just maybe that “obstacle” is really a possibility that I don’t want to miss.