The Secret works!

You may have seen the book, the movie or even the Oprah show about The Secrete, aka The Law of Attraction. Used to be called the Power of Positive Thinking. Whatever you want to call it, it works. Case in point, the selling of my car.

In August we bought a new (used) car. Since then, my piece o'crap 1997 Chevy Cavalier has been in our driveway. The idea was to clean it up, do a few things to it and then sell it. Unfortunately, we (the royal we, meaning Doug, who had been driving it for the last two years) had not gotten around to doing that. Additionally, there were certain times that "we" (meaning me) would not have time to deal with the email inquiries, so I didn't push.

In November I had the idea that during the Christmas break I would go ahead and take photos and post them on Craigslist, with the idea that if someone wanted to look at the car, "we" would be motivated into fixing it up. Then with the rush of the end of semester and the holidays, this plan slipped my mind until last week.

On Thursday, I pulled into our driveway, looked at the green car and thought about grabbing the camera and posting the photos on the Web. Then I remembered Doug was going to be traveling quite a bit for business and I that he should probably be here for the selling of the car. Friday, I come home from a massage and looked again at the green car and thought, "I don't need Doug to sell this car. I can do it myself -- after all, I bought it myself." Then I realized I really didn't want strangers coming to the house when Doug was away. I knew I needed to just get rid of it.

A couple of hours later my door rings. There are three Hispanic guys, maybe in their 20s, and they asked if we were selling the Cavalier. I told them yes. I asked how they knew (since there were no signs, no ads, no nothing) and they said because we hadn't moved the car in awhile. Okay, this freaked me out a bit. I let them look at the car and they asked what we were selling it for and I told them, jacking it up a bit. They asked if we it was in good condition and I said yes (neglecting all the problems with the air conditioning, etc.). I suggested that if they wanted to know more they should call Doug after 6 p.m. and gave his cell number.

Later that afternoon I'm running some errands and get home a bit after 6. I know Doug is on his way. As I'm parking, this van stops in front of the house. It's dark out and I see it's the guys. I'm more than a little freaked -- after all, they knew enough that the car hadn't moved. Were they casing the joint? They want to know about Doug and I say he's on his way, hightailing it into the house. I call Doug on the cell and no answer. The guys are still outside. I call Doug again and yet again and no answer. I think -- who can I call? With the dogs, I was safe inside, but still... I call my friend Gary, hoping he was working late at Dell and could swing by on his way home. Of course, he was already at dinner. Gary could tell by my voice I was worried and it didn't help when we got disconnected. He finally called back and I told him what was up, but said it would be okay. Finally, Doug arrived and Gary hangs up.

Of course, this was my overactive imagination, but still, it was suspicious.

Doug talked to the guys, told them what all was wrong with the car, cleaned it out for them and let them test drive it and made a deal with them. The price was less than what I quoted, but more than what we thought it would actually sell for. They paid cash, signed the paperwork and drove off with the car, heading, they said, back home to Brownsville. The car has finally been sold.

I'm still a bit freaked to think someone watched the house enough to know we weren't driving the car, but I'm more amazed with how easily the car was sold. I decided it was finally time that the car was gotten rid of and suddenly it's gone. Think it and it will happen.