Give Us A Sign…

How many times do we ask the universe, God, or life in general for a sign? A sign to show us what to do, where to go, who to see, who not to see, what to buy, or even give away? 

All of us at some point will have looked back with that wonderful gift of hindsight and said ‘if only we had seen the signs’ or ‘now I understand why this, or that, had to happen’.

But here and now, in this present time, a time where many of us are concerned, worried, anxious, dismayed, feeling overwhelmed by current events, or even downright nonplussed by the present Government’s handling, or general media’s daily coverage, we look for signs to show us what we should be doing or saying, or how we should be living or surviving in the situations we now find ourselves facing.

And so it was, that Charlotte and I were in a recent dilemma, concerning my imminent departure from these shores to foreign climes and the possibility of a very real need to either sell our current home right now or delay selling, until Charlotte is able to join me, during the summer of next year.

We have taken advice from family, friends, all and sundry and, to be fair, the scales hung, on balance, balanced. Balanced evenly. Well balanced. Quivering, like a swingometer on Election Night, pointing at due South. Financial considerations and arguments have been made for and against both immediate selling and delayed selling. There was no outright winner. The needle of direction was poised on the median line of indecisiveness.

If only we had a sign to show us the right path to take. We were in a quandary. Perplexed. 

It was with all the consternation of should we, shouldn’t we going on, that we asked for this sign. The sign needed to be clear, leaving us in no doubt that it is indeed a sign and a sign that we should take notice of.

When we have bought and sold a property in the past, we have used a first-rate, local Estate Agent, to look after and handle the marketing of our home and we have always been pleased with their efforts in securing buyers, at the desired price. So when a house just across the road from us went on sale recently, with the usual advertising board displayed prominently on the leading edge of their land, we gave it scant attention. Just another property in the same situation as us. We did have a look online to see how much it was up for sale for though and rated our own property against what they were offering. Well, who wouldn’t? You need to know the ballpark figure, to judge if yours is worth more or less in the current climate, don’t you?

Quietly confident that ours was indeed of a better standing and condition, we thought nothing more of it and were still in a position of asking for a sign as to what we should be doing with ours.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that within a couple of days, through the post, we received an invitation from the same Estate Agent offering to value our property ‘as there are others in your neighbourhood on the market’. True, we had seen the advertising board across the road. We threw the letter from the Estate Agent in the recycling bin and asked the universe for a sign as to how to progress (or not, as the case may be).

A few days later, late on a warm, balmy, late summer Sunday evening, Charlotte received an email from a personal email account, asking her if she had thought of selling the property. As the account was a personal one and not from an actual Company as such, we deferred our belief in the genuine nature of the missive until such time as investigations could be carried out, when the Agent’s shop reopened for business the next day.

With due diligence, Charlotte enquired as to the actual existence of the sender of the email and was informed that such a person did exist and was employed by the Company.

For the fourth time of asking then, can we please have a sign as to whether we should sell our property now, or wait?

In life, sometimes the answer is staring us in the face. Short of being slapped around the aforementioned with a wet fish, we are in need of having our eyes forced metaphorically open to what is being offered here and now.

Looking back and seeing signposts with 20/20 vision is a common occurrence for us all. How we would have done things differently if we had only known.

Sometimes it might be better if we opened our eyes and took account of what is being offered to us in plain sight.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear….

We asked the Agent to value our property. It is now on the market. 

Carry on regardless.

DJ