Adopt Someone

My good friend, who also happens to be my business partner & neighbor, is breaking me into the mortgage business. We are about to mark the end of our fourth month of partnership.

She’s busting my chops regularly with constant market updates, mortgage calculations, rate pricing, underwriting guidelines, ambush product quizzes in the little girls’ room, mobile marketing, appraisal deal killers …

It’s like mortgage boot camp and trust me when I tell you that you’ve never experienced the drill sergeant from Newport Beach that I deal with hourly.





We even have walkie-talkies for the office, which we use pretty regularly. She seriously has a beat on me every hour of the day.

She takes her job very seriously, and she’s very ethical. I have no doubt we are going to kill this business ... in a great way.

There’s something else she’s been taking really serious over the years, which I’ve finally had the opportunity to be a part of on a much deeper level this year: charity.

Last week we attended an event at Century 21 in Cloverdale sponsored by the realtors. The ladies in this office do so much for their local community: a turkey drive for needy families, a coat / gift drive for children for Christmas, and a man auction to raise money for cancer in the spring.

Over the years I have always supported Jennifer as she's built her professional relationships, buying toys for tots and attending events, but this year is different. I have become a part of the fabric that connects her to the community in which she’s been building relationships and doing business with before I arrived in the partnership.

I also see an office full of people who still, in the toughest of economies and most uncertain of times, find a way to collect turkeys, coats, toys, and money for cancer when many people are cutting out extras because they simply must.

As I reflect on all I have to be thankful this year, my husband’s health and my child, I know there are so many people who are having a really rough time this year, right now.

I also know, because I have seen it first hand, that each one of us can make a difference, no matter how small. A few donated cans of food, in Jennifer’s case over 100 pounds of donated turkey, or a coat for a child who otherwise would go without.

When it comes down to it, in good times and tough times, all we have is each other and without each other we have nothing.