Desks

I seem to have a particular talent for manifesting desks. Back in the 1980s, when I was starting out as a freelance copywriter, I had a promising little business with some great clients, but no desk. I'd put my word processor on my coffee table and sat on the floor to write. I was not a particularly organized person (odd--I can organize projects down to the tiniest detail, but I have always been chronically unorganized when it comes to everyday life) and I had stacks of papers growing in the living room of my tiny apartment, with no filing cabinet, no desk, etc., and no cash yet with which to buy them.

I had taken a personal-growth class that offered free monthly followups for life, and one of the regular activities at these meetings was that each participant got to present a problem and then be silent while the group would brainstorm for her or him. My issue at one of the first meetings I attended after starting my business, was need for organization. The consensus of the group was that I needed a desk--that I needed to make it a high priority. While not exactly a newsflash, it reinforced the absurdity of trying to run a business without the basic equipment. They also told me that I needed to just start organizing, even in small increments--to just do something, anything, to overcome inertia.

On the drive home, I said to the Universe, "Okay. I need a desk and I need it yesterday. I don't know how you're going to provide this but that's none of my business. Please send me a desk." And I decided that, as soon as I got home, I would do something, however small, toward getting organized.

It was easy to figure out what to do as there was a stack of mail from a few days earlier that I had never gone through. It was the perfect place to start! As I sorted through the various envelopes, one stood out. It was from a local business, and it was hand-addressed, so I was pretty sure it wasn't just an ad.

"Why is Danco Scandinavian Furniture writing to me?" I wondered as I tore into the envelope.

I had forgotten that, weeks earlier, I had been there with a friend to pick up another friend who worked there whose car was in the shop. She had been busy with a customer when we arrived, so we killed time wandering around the showroom, admiring the sleek Danish modern furniture. There had been a small teak desk with a filing drawer there that I had admired, but it was $150, and out of range for me. "Maybe someday," I thought.

Inside the envelope was a letter announcing that I had won second prize in their anniversary giveaway drawing. I had completely forgotten that I had filled out an entry form while we were there waiting. The prize? A $150 gift certificate for store merchandise! I don't have to tell you what I used it on. I'm typing on that very desk right now!

But not for long. No--I've outgrown that little desk, and I'm ready for a new one. My mother-in-law, Emily, was giving away her desk a year or so ago when she bought a new one, but I missed out on that as she gave it to my sister-in-law, who needed it for her kids. But that was alright--as I remembered it, Emily's desk was really huge and a dark finish, and my office furniture is all sort of a reddish-golden teak color. From time to time I thought about how much I needed a larger desk, but when I priced new ones, they were just more than we were able to put out, and I never seemed to have the leg-power to tromp around to the used office furniture places to find a bargain. So I just said to the Universe, "I really need a larger desk and I need it for free or for cheap and it has to come with ease."

The day I got off the phone from talking to my new agent--a very wonderful day, indeed--I called Rick in my excitement to tell him what a great conversation we'd had, and after sharing my news, he said, "It's just a great day all around. If you want Mom's old desk, Karla (Rick's sister) has to find a new home for it because she's moving and won't be able to use it." I jumped at the chance, got the measurements from Karla--amazingly, it was the perfect size for my space--and found out that 2 matching bookcases were included. Rick rented a truck and drove the 90 minutes to her house and picked up the desk and bookcases. When he arrived back home, he had a desk with him that was not at all the huge, dark desk I had been thinking of. It and the bookcases are a reddish-gold teak-like finish! And they match, almost perfectly, the other furniture in my office! Now, for time to clear my office to make way for the new furniture, which is temporarily clogging up my living room. (I need to get as good at organizing my office as I am at attracting desks.) I will tackle it this weekend as it's high time to start using my new bigger desk. My career is expanding and this desk is a reflection of that! Doing some clutter-clearing can only help, too.

Oh, yeah--remember in the desk manifestation story from the 1980s my telling the Universe I needed the desk "yesterday"? If I had opened my mail when it had first arrived 2 days before I finally saw the letter, I could have picked up my desk and had it by what would have "yesterday"! Love the Universe's precision--and sense of humor.

I am the desk manifestor.