When I was growing up, my parents wouldn’t say the word snow around me. They literally called it the “S word”. They would speak their sentence in normal tone, then contort their faces to subtly whisper out of the side of their mouth “S word,” to one another. Once I began catching on, I behaved like a dog hearing the word “walk”. Jumping, asking questions, wanting more details…I was obsessed. Once old enough to hold back my ridiculous level of excitement, I would play it cool, but inside, my inner golden retriever was jumping for joy.

My mom still calls it the “S word”. On occasion, I will receive a text that says, “The news said the S word,” with a snowflake emoji. I still get that inner giddiness.

Growing up in the valley of Oregon, most of us live around a whopping 0 to maybe 200 feet of elevation. Don’t get me wrong, the valley brings abundance, amazing growth of anything and everything your heart desires. Being in the valley of the PNW means incredible soil and lushness. Everywhere you look there are gardens, farm land, trees, forests, and orchards. But you know what it also means? It means that the majority of the time, when snow is in the forecast, we get nothing (could you hear my pouty tone in that statement?). Rarely does the forecast say “Snow on the valley floor” (believe me, I listen for those words anytime the weather is on). Instead they say, “snow expected at 500 feet and above”.

500 feet. That’s the magical number. It’s been the magical number for as long as I can remember.

Fast forward to today, about 40 years later — I just moved into a home that is, you guessed it, at exactly 500 feet. I know it’s at 500 feet because I literally walk outside my door, past the house next to me, and there is a sign on the main road that says “Elevation 500 Feet”. Not only did the universe provide, she made sure to put a sign right there on the street to remind me every single time I leave my house.

My point to all of this—manifesting or praying for what you’re dreaming about in your next phase of life is not pointless, and it’s not wasted energy. It is truly putting the energy and desire for what you want to happen out there, and it will. When the time is right. Human nature is to want what we want now—instant gratification—but I promise you, for some reason or another, reasons beyond what we can see and understand, now may not be the right time. It will happen often in ways you never had an opportunity to visualize or even comprehend. And when it does, you’ll have that sign saying “Elevation 500 Feet” smacking you in the face every day to remind you of it. Trust. That’s been my power word for this year. And I ask of you to do just that, trust. Your “500 Feet” is coming.