After a long arduous day at work, I can say it was very productive with my having sold not one, but two of my listings. As the old saying goes, “If one’s good, then two should be better.” I think many Americans don’t have to even be reminded of the idea in their accumulation of as much “stuff” as possible. From the amount of clothing including shoes and accessories, to electronic gadgets, expensive tools, and above all, the number of motorized vehicles people continue to surround themselves with until they realize they don’t have enough storage space. They then go out and buy bigger houses or make large additions to their existing garages. I’ve been familiar with a number of families over the years where their children take on the personalities and mindsets of their parents. The most unfortunate about this “copy cat” mentality is there’s no giving or sharing their talents with the world. Instead they focus on what they can buy next to satisfy their hunger for more and better. I had a client some years ago who inherited a large chunk of money from his deceased brother’s estate. Somehow we ended up in conversation of what he was going to do with it. I said to him in casually, “Do you have any plans for what was bequeathed you?” Since he knew how I’ve always felt about showering children with money, he half tearfully replied, “I want to do something for my daughter whom I’ve never done much for in the past.” All I could say was, “I see.” He didn’t realize how having known his family for a number of years, I’d learned early on how he showered his daughter with gifts whenever she’d start with her whining. Now that’s what I’d consider a classic case of selective memory loss. He unfortunately doesn’t realize how much his daughter has grown up to be an adult spoiled rotten brat. Sic transit gloria mundi!
There was about a two hour period this afternoon where I found myself dumped on with duties I’d not expected to be performing. After taking a deep breath, I picked up the phone and placed a call to a client asking him to stop by my office so to help me get some much needed questions answered. About a half hour later I felt like my office door was revolving with people coming to sign documents and then leaving. After sending them on their way, I was left with the last one which had to be signed by an elderly person who doesn’t drive. I made a copy of the document, walked out of the office with briefcase and file in hand, and drove across town to where the gentleman lived. After exchanging pleasantries, When seated at the kitchen table with file open I looked down. I think I must’ve turned 10 shades of red in realizing I’d left the original at my office. To make matters worse, the oldster was to be picked up by a family member about 20 minutes later. I excused myself and said I’d be back quickly. We all know how when we are in a hurry, the stoplights haunt us with red, the people ahead of us are dallying, and when you expect there to be a free parking place close to your office, there’s none.
After running in and grabbing the original, I decided I was going to put into my mind the quickest route back to that kitchen table. By Zig-zagging down blocks, avoiding stop lights, and dodging slow pokes I sensed were ahead of me, I got there in time, and got it signed. Now if I had a navigator built into my dash, it would’ve been going crazy trying to recalibrate where I was headed. The human mind really can be a fine living computer when the overdrive switch is flipped into action.
