Upstairs, downstairs

If you ask the universe for what you need you might be surprised at the answer. After a December 2010 Nor’easter the stair case down to the beach washed away leaving me with no way to access the beach. I had to get creative. I re-routed the pathway down a sloping hillside and found a section of dock that had washed up. I always say that if you need something, just wait long enough on Smithtown Bay and it will wash up eventually. I am still waiting for that briefcase full of money, but I did get the dock. This has served as a pretty good substitute, but in the almost two years since the storm, it has become more difficult to get down. So I always ask the universe for a new staircase, since having a new one built is just not in my budget right now and I am not dating a carpenter. I never lost faith that one day the universe would send me what I needed and last week, there I was walking a half mile from my house when “Viola!” There is was. A 13-foot almost-intact staircase. Sure it was missing a few stairs, but I was ecstatic. It weighed about 75 lbs, and I stared at it for a while trying to figure out how to drag this monster a half mile. I felt like a Neanderthal faced with a huge problem in physics. I dragged it a few feet into the water, tied a piece of nylon rope around it and pulled it like a mule on the Erie Canal for half a mile of shoreline. I dragged it up to its new home and here it will stay until I find a very strong person to put it in place for me. I think I have it all figured out how to anchor it down with some giant stakes and rope. Home Depot loves me. I hope to have it in place by next week when I will celebrate with a ribbon cutting. Of course I will not be paying for ribbon. I am sure I can find some down at the beach. However, I am still waiting for that brief case of money to wash up. Give it time. Give it time.