Starting Over: A Profile

Stories of women starting over and creating new lives for themselves come from unexpected sources. A few nights ago I watched an episode of HGTV's House Hunters and became more interested in the obstacles the house-hunter had faced in her life than the details of the houses themselves.

The woman looked like she was in her 40's, the mother of two college-age children, and divorced for three years. It's what she did in those three years that sets her apart from others who might've been in a similar situation. For financial reasons, she had to move back in with her mother, not easy for an adult woman with grown children. But she used the arrangement wisely by going back to college, finishing her degree, getting a professional position as a para-legal, and saving for a house.

When she had enough money for a down payment, she established a realistic budget of how much house she could afford along with reasonable expectations of what she wanted in the way of amenities and stuck with the plan. After putting some sweat equity into her new property, she ended up with a lovely home for herself and children when they were home from school.

The beauty of the story was the pure joy and pride in this woman's face that she'd chosen and bought this house, painted, furnished and decorated it to her tastes, and was handling the mortgage by herself, the first time she'd ever been solely responsible for house payments.

In addition to her hard work, a positive attitude was crucial to her success. Even though she had some anxiety about shouldering the complete financial responsibility, she rose above it with determination she could pull this off.

The role of attitude's a topic for another post!