Luck? The Role of Superstition in Our Decision to Choose Life

The view from our potential porch

We moved here to the High Plains because of Beez's job, and because it was a way to get back to New Mexico--but we never really thought we would want to stay here always in this eastern part of the state. Oh, the cowboys made for very good scenery, and we tried to imagine ourselves living permanently in the Bible Belt, among the cattle and a Republican majority, but it wasn't really the place for us. Besides, we longed for the sight of mountains.

At one point we thought we should locate our retirement home very close to doctors and hospitals. We are both in good health, but we were thinking well, just in case... And then I realized that we were being awfully cautious and sacrificing quality of life for perceived safety. Reading Linda's "ranch blog" (as it is known at our house) has always reminded me that a little risk is a wonderful thing--thus, our new plan to jump off into a far more simple, rural, and satisfying life.

So, instead of looking to the southern part of the state where the retirees go, we changed our focus. If we were to pick our absolutely very favorite spot on earth, it would be Pecos, a little, mainly Hispanic village outside of Santa Fe, located at 6923 feet in a small valley made by the Pecos River. Beez has written about his feelings for this area and I see that I have at least five posts about the place on this blog--Haunted, Haunted Pecos being one of them.

As luck would have it, we accidentally came across a nice little piece of property with the required two houses on it--one (adobe!) for Beez and me, and one (great views!) for Bucksnort. There is even a little chicken house for my longed-for chicken sisters. We make our own luck, as a friend reminds me often, but in this case, it seems to me that luck will play a large part in our plans. We have to sell this High Plains house in order to buy the Pecos property, and the timing will be very important--if things don't work out right, we may find ourselves out of a home with nowhere to go!

So what have we done? Why, naturally, we've buried poor St. Joseph again. I know, it's a crazy superstition (see some other fascinating superstitions on Judy's blog), but funny thing, it's worked really well for us in the past. You can read all the details of how this wacky superstition works in an older post, St. Joseph, Little Underground Realtor but, long story short: all you do is to bury a little statue of St. Joseph upside down in the yard of the house and facing the For Sale sign, and the house will sell within a few weeks.

We'll see.