Keeping Your Eyes On The Signs

I have always been a huge believer in signs. I can still remember watching the Matthew Perry movie, Fools Rush In, and connecting with all the signs that were portrayed throughout the film. Selma Hyak’s character is Catholic. She is always telling Perry about the different signs that are all around, all the time. You just have to open your eyes a little wider to see them.

According to Psychic Giovanna, “When we’re on the right path and moving forward, things seem to fall into place with new opportunities presenting themselves to us in a myriad of ways.” For me, this came true recently as I was facing some huge life decisions.

In September, I decided to visit New York City for the first time. As soon as I made my way out of the airport, the city smell of New York hit my nose … and I was in love. From that moment on I screamed from the highest mountain top, “I’m moving to New York!” There was nothing that could stop me … or so I thought.

I worked from the end of September to the middle of December, orchestrating all sorts of plans to get me to the big city. For starters, I had the perfect roommate situation falling into place. My friends John and Kate (no plus 8), my boyfriend and I, were all going to share a three bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. I searched for hours per day trying to find the perfect spot. Since my boyfriend and I would be sharing a room, it cut the cost of rent in half. Who says New York City has to be expensive? You just have to know how to do it right (and be comfortable sharing a closet sized space with your boyfriend and a dog). I was ready! But no one else seemed to be. It turns out my friend John has a bad habit of agreeing to unrealistic plans and then backing out at the last minute. And that he did. I wasn’t discouraged though. My heart said, “You belong in New York,” so I just tried even harder.

I left John in the dust and went on to set up several meetings with brokers to find a two bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. Kate was scheduled to visit new York the second week of December to help nail down a place. My lease on my apartment in Florida was up on December 31st, so it was the perfect opportunity to make a smooth transition to the city. One problem … Kate got cold feet. Two weeks before I was supposed to be U-Hauling my life to New York, almost everyone had backed out. Though I was beginning to feel discouraged I wouldn’t let it show. “She’s missing out,” I told myself.

I held my head high and went on to locate my own one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. With half of the supposed rent gone, I ran into some problems. New York’s expensive reputation was proving itself to be true and everything I looked at was too pricey — something I was not prepared for. Craigslist had plenty of ads for subleases, so I thought that would be my best bet at this point. “Just make it there, and something will happen,” I thought. I found the perfect one month sublease just a block away from the Empire State Building. Only $1000, utilities included. I sent my friend, who lives in the city, to go see the place and after she approved it, we were ready to get moving.

Another disappointment … the place ended up being a fraud and the guy demanded we overnight him all of the money without signing any papers or giving us a key. “This is how we do things in New York,” he told me. I wasn’t born yesterday. I took a few steps back and looked at the big picture that sat before me. What was the meaning behind all these obstacles? Were all of these pointing me in a different direction? I came to the realization that these were significant signs. I wanted to live in the city so bad, I was blinded by desire and came close to loosing $1000!

That winter I took some time off to spend with my family. As we celebrated the holidays and enjoyed January by the fireplace together, I smiled as I heard New York was getting their second huge snow storm of the year. Someone, somewhere, didn’t think New York was in my best interest. And I’ve been enjoying the west coast weather ever since!