Sometimes you need more than a nudge

It’s 3:38 in the morning and it’s been a crazy twelve hours, let me tell you.

Flashback: after a week of anxiously waiting for my van/home (aka LaVanne) to be fixed, I pack up my stuff and the puppy, check out of Motel 6, and head back to the dealership to wait for word there so I won’t get stuck paying for another night. Money is getting tight.

Later, walking the puppy in the lot, I spot a big, shiny, almost-new van and sigh wistfully as I peer in the windows.

“Wouldn’t THAT be nice,” I say to Scout, and forget about it.

Still no word from the service department on LaVanne.

More puppy-walks. A nice young man admires Scout and we make small talk. Turns out Avery is a salesman. I mention my van envy and suddenly, Avery has made it his mission to put me in that van.

Long story short: twelve hours later, I sit in the parking lot of a truck stop for the night, the proud, slightly stunned owner of said almost-new van. Let’s call her LaVanne Too. (Or LaVansion, as a Facebook friend suggested. I can’t decide. Which do you like?)

LaVanne the First, as it turned out, was toast. If I had not been able to finance the almost-new van (with the help of a very-determined Avery), I would have been instantly homeless… only I didn’t know that when we began our sales dance.

What’s the lesson in this?

Sometimes you don’t need a nudge but a leap of faith. And a good salesman.