St. Joe the Realtor Saint

Shortly after we put our house on the market in December a friend excitedly told me, "You should get and bury a St. Joseph statue!" Being the Jewish woman married to a Catholic school boy (he's not a school boy anymore of course, he's a grown man) that I am I had no idea what she was talking about, it turns out my husband didn't either. 

One morning soon after as we met for a morning run she delivered the said saint in a box, all commercialized up, pamphlet of explanation included. I will paraphrase what it said...bury St. Joseph upside down in the front lawn of your house either by your for sale sign, your front door, facing north, facing south, in the middle of the night during a full moon with a shovel in your front yard so your neighbors will talk about how crazy you are your house will sell. As long as you have fixed major repairs, the foundation is sold, your house is clean, your house is listed, you say a prayer and believe that this little statute will help you sell your house, then your house will sell. 

Okay, okay at this point St. Joesph started to sound more like Realtor Joe to me so I figured since I already didn't believe in him I'd have a little fun with him. 

After rescuing him from the box I unthinkingly put him on the shelf by my front door. Soon after I said, "Oh hey! Look, some people have an Elf on the Shelf, I have St. Joseph on the shelf?" Let the fun begin! It started with me putting him in our Lego Christmas Advent Calendar scene (no picture).

My son awoke the next morning and St. Joe was blocking the next door to be opened so he moved him to theses snowmen. (House still not sold)

A few days later my daughter thought he might want to play football with a different snowman. Unfortunately the snowman fumbled St. Joe soon after this photo and in the words of my daughter, "His head popped off and rolled under the couch." (House still not sold)

After head surgery by Krazy Glue he was cuddled and cared for by this snowman. His head is pointed toward the neighbors' house, also for sale, which received an offer soon after. (Our house still not sold) 

Before leaving for our Christmas vacation I turned him upside down in the arms of this snowman (no picture) after some friends assured me that if I buried him in a flower pot outside (the ground was frozen) that my house would sell. I appeased them by putting him upside down.

A week later we came home to two offers on our house. We closed on our new house on Jan. 30, moved in on Feb. 1 and handed over the keys to our "old" house that "Realtor Joe" helped us sell the following week.

It was then brought to my attention that once moved into our new house he should be placed somewhere in our new house to ensure a happy life there. The snowmen grew quite fond of him so they continued to hang out with him by the fireplace (no photo). Two days ago the snowmen were put away in hopes that spring will arrive sometime this year.

Yesterday he found his new calling in our new home.......

My daughter has made him a fashion model with paper doll clothes. She announced this morning as she posed him leaning against an anchor (no photo) that he has won many photo shoots. 

She then declared this his wedding dress.

When he is buried she stated that he has to be buried in all these clothes. I'm not sure if she was talking about his funeral or his realtor duties...

Our house sold in about a month of putting it on the market and we are very happy in our new home. Hmmmmm..................

Right Where I Belong

It’s been a whirlwind of a life between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I only went one place to shop on “Black Friday” and that was to the realtor’s office. We put an offer in on a house after seeing it the previous Sunday. On Sunday at the open house I had no intention of this being the house. The location was right, and that’s what mattered the most, still within the limits of my neighborhood of 12 years. Well, after spending 45 minutes in this house it was evident that it was indeed the house.

By the motivation of driving by the “new” house four times a day to get to and from my kids’ school we were able to get our house cleaned, de-cluttered and neutralized in just over a week’s time in order to get on the market. The “new” house can only be ours if we sell the house we are in now. I can honestly say I have only been as exhausted as I’ve been in the past three weeks two other times in my life: when I was pregnant!

Our “new” house is still within our trick or treating boundary and when I told a friend how close we were moving she laughed at the idea. My neighborhood is filled with neighbors with an abundance of kindness I thought only existed on TV. Yesterday I brought one of my neighbors, who I don't see very often who is in her 80s, mail that was accidentally delivered to me. WE were hurriedly heading to my kids’ concerts at school and then heading out of town.

She told me she and other neighbors were sad to see the “For Sale” sign go up in my yard. I had called a few close neighbors ahead of time, but not everyone. She said that she understood that our family needed more space and have outgrown our home. I told her where we'd be moving and how we looked at houses in other areas but they didn't feel right because I love this neighborhood. Her reply was simple, "That's because you belong here." She warmed my heart and made me feel so thankful for bringing the envelope to her door rather than simply giving it back to the mail carrier.

One of life's basic needs is the feeling of belonging.

May you all be where you feel you belong this holiday week.