There is a writing that says, "People come into our lives, some pass by unnoticed, some for a day, some for a season, some for a year, and some for a life time."

 Who would you think could impact your life the most?  Some would say right away, why, those that stay for a life time.  But that's not necessarily so.  What about a car accident? What took just a second can impact you for a life time.  What about the person you have known for a life time that really isn't a family member or friend? Maybe the impact isn't anything much at all.

If you think about it, could you say that there are those that you like more than you feel, they like you?  What do you do then?  After all there are personalities that we just don't feel comfortable around.

 I have found that there are times when friendships become as strong a family ties.  You can care about the wellfare of these individuals as you would for family member.  What is so special about these individuals?  Can you find yourself in the position of caring about them more than they care about you?  The short answer is, YES. 

 As we go about our lives with the day in and day out minutia giving no thought to these individuals, they are thinking about us.  Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not talking about stalking.  I'm talking about people we know who have a healthy caring for us.

 I just received a call that got me to thinking.  I like to think of myself as a caring person.  I listen to those I'm with.  I interact when called to.  And I do think of these individuals that I see as on the periphery of my life.   But here's the catch.  They don't know they are on the periphery.  This seems to me to be a catch 22.  The call I received was from my stepmother.  My fathers last wife.  She calls me about once a month.  It's not that I don't think of her, I do.  It's not that I don't like her, I do.  But since my fathers passing I just don't have that much to say.  She lives with her only child and he and his wife take good care of her.  I seem to think about her when I busy doing something else and I think..."I'll call her when I'm done here", and then something else comes up and I forget.  Shame on me.

 This lady just spent 3 weeks in the hospital because they found, in an ordinary doctors visit, she had Hodgkin's. Now it's true I had been thinking about her a lot in the last month but just didn't stop long enough to call.  What would a call have meant to her?  A lot.  What would it have cost me?  A few minutes of my time, I'm NOT that busy.  Shame on me.  She almost died; an individual that loves me without condition.  What a loss.

Can we really say any of us have that many individuals that care that much about us?  If we can say yes to that question then we are rich indeed.  My father said, "if you can count 5 tried and true friends when you die then you have lived and died a rich person for sure."  Dadism was, "read every book to the end, if you find just one morsel of education, help or wit then your time was not spent in vain."  I would say the same thing about the individuals we meet along life's path. 

 I was gone from AR for almost a year.  When I came back I noticed so many who were here and active have not posted for over a year.  Where are they?  What has happened in their lives?  Do they need support from friends?  Are they going through a bad spell in their lives? I know we are busy but what could we do?

 The lesson in this for me is to pay closer attention to those that want my attention.  A client, a neighbor, an AR member.  After all in this life, it's not WHAT we do, but HOW we have done it.

OK I'm fed up right now.  I just don't want to take it any more. That is how I feel.  I know I'm not alone but let's step up and try to do something.  What?  I don't know yet but something.   Where are people's minds?  I know when they bought that cute little kitten or puppy they must have loved it.      They were cute and cuddle.  They fed it, played with it, hopefully took it to the vets on a regular basis.  And yet, when they are facing eviction, foreclosure or what ever, they never give a thought to what they are going to do with the pet that loves them so very unconditionally. It's not like one day your life is going well and the next you are out on the street. You have been given notice.  Even if it is only 30 days. And yet it seems the last thing you give thought to is your pet.  I know right now a lot of shelters are full, rescue groups are brimming over, but where there is a will there is a way.  Why in the world would you go off and just let your pet be locked up in your house where there is no food, water, the heating or air conditioner isn't working due to the electricity being cut off  and not a person around? What in the world were you thinking?  That it is better to leave that animal locked up without anyone to care for it, than to take it to someone that would?  Is your mind set that if you can't have it no one else can? 

I don't know where your mind is but I do know one thing. You are not a good person at all.  There is a very old saying, "A society is measured by how it treats it's old people, children and animals.  Well you just flunked out of the human race. 

It is so totally unfair that the person that the person who must go in and inspect your home after you vacate is faced by tiring to salvage what you have caused.  How many starving animals have Realtors found?  How many scared and lonely pets have they had to rescue?  I am shocked that you didn't leave your children behind also.  I don't want to hear any more that you couldn't find a place to rent that would take animals.  That is such a flimsy excuse. 

Animals (pets) love us when no one else will. They don't care how we look or sound.  They don't care what your religion is or isn't. They don't care about your politics or what your profession is.  All they care about is giving you love and in return all they ask for is a little food and care.

 Let me end this rant with this. SHELTER! RESCUE GROUP! GIVE AWAY!  

Yes, I know we have all heard the bad news of today's housing, economics, jobs, healthcare and more.  Not only have we heard about it adnauseam, quit a few of us have or are living it.  But I just have to get my few words in.

 This has certainly been a year of firsts. A new president, not a first, but this one happens to be "African American" and that IS a first. There are new programs for America to numerous to mention.  Some good, some... we just have to wait and see. How these programs effect you and me is what is important.  Because you see the entire United States is made of yous and me's.  If it effects you, sooner or latter, it will effect me and visa versa. It is easy for those who have not really been affected by losing a home or job to say, well just roll up your sleeves and get busy. It's not always that easy. Here in America we are big hearted and yet we have a way of feeling..."if it doesn't effect me directly it's not my business."  I have heard quite a few individuals say those without jobs are "losers." They are not taking into consideration those that lost their jobs due to downsizing or the company closing it doors.  And if you think right now it is easy to get a new job, go out and try it.

 I am old enough to remember what the recovery of the Depression of 1929 was like.  Yes, I had the ration books and still do.  EVERYTHING was rationed, food, i.e. sugar, coffee, salt and so much more. Gas was rationed tires were impossible to obtain and did you know they stopped making new personal cars?  Yep! They did. I think they began again in 1948 but I might be off a year. In those days everything went to the war effort, not so today.  Now you might wonder what all this has to do with us today.

 Well, people were made homeless by the tens of thousands. There were soup kitchens (as they were called in the day). There were people; whole families sleeping in the parks and streets. Sound familiar?

 Now we always have had and I guess we will always have homeless people.  It's sad but true.  However not like today.  When it is so bad that they are setting up tent cities in cities parks then you know we are in deep trouble.

 When the unemployment rate is quoted by the government it is only telling us about those that are still on the unemployed rolls, not the ones that are still jobless and have run out of benefits. So you can add hundreds of thousands to the number that you hear on your TV news.  

 Each person represents someone that has a family, either a husband/wife and children or parents. Therefore one unemployed person can effect at the very least two to six or more individuals.  Of course when an individual loses their income they cannot buy or pay for goods or existing credit, homes, cars, credit cards, utility bills and on and on the story goes.

 Yes, there are thousands of homes on the market right now which is what interests Realtors, but if you are not qualified to handle the foreclosures then you are left to work with the buyers only.  What's the problem with that you say?  Well, in trying to close the gate after all the horses bolted out, we are now trying to go back to where we were many years ago.  Large down payments, I'm not saying that is bad, I am saying it really limits our buying market.  If our buyers get a second for the down payment they are right where we were when we got into this mess; huge monthly payments.

 Will we get out of this mess?  Of course we will, but we won't get out of it by 2010 like the news would like you to believe.  Until we can find work of all of the unemployed it won't matter what the president does. In order to buy, pay and have credit you must first have a job. That is going to take a while when you consider all of the companies that have failed in this economy and the millions that are now out of work...

 Well, what do we do, you ask?  I say we help all of those that have been caught in the battle of the economic war.  How?  Food banks, babysitting, paying it forward, gently used clothes donations, anyway we can.  All of us know someone that has been affected that we could help without affronting them. We need to start a movement within our industry. Each and every company could start a food drive by bringing in non perishable food and giving it to the food banks. Did you know that the food banks are running out of food for the homeless?  Well they are. To those of us that have an income what is a can or two of vegetables or fruit, a box of crackers, raisins for a child's lunch. What about going through your closets and getting rid of the clothes you and your children don't use any more? Shoes that are gently worn are also needed. Toys your children have out grown or don't play with any more. And don't forget about the animals. Dog and cat food is needed also.  It is a wonderful thing to PAY FORWARD and I know as Realtors we can do a great job.

Let us hear how you and/or your company are getting involved and helping in this time of need in our country.  I know we will hear wonderful stories of acts of kindness.

My father was someone I thought was very special.  Now I guess we can all say that about our dads.  Although my father has not been with me for 15 years now, I still hear his voice guiding me, laughing with and at me, supporting me and always encouraging me.  I still miss him so very much and I guess I will until I'm not here any longer.  I raised my children on "Dadisums." 

With Father's Day close at hand I thought I would share one of them with all of you.  It seems to be so true.  It's sad, but it is true.

"You are only as good as what you did TODAY."  So I always try to do my best each and every day.

I would love it if you would share with the rest of us what you remember from your father that has stayed with you until now.  Let's see if we can enlighten each other via our Dads.

I am going to reprint this as I received it from California Bankruptcy website.  One reason is, I don't want you to think this is made up and yes, I know we are not to copy information directly.  However, this so staggered me that I just had to pass it on.

 We all know to well that the housing market is in deep trouble.  We have talked it to death.  It seems to me there are two camps in the thinking of the on going situation, those that say their business couldn't be better and those that are really struggling to stay afloat in the business.

 Just to let you know I live in California and I am one of those struggling and that story is for another blog.

 2008 Q1 FORCLOSURE STATS SHOW DIRE STATE OF INDUSTRY.

  Foreclosure statistics for the first quarter of 2008 were released this week, and, as predicted, things are getting worse for the housing market.  Q1 of this year saw a 23% rise over foreclosure filings from Q4 2007, and 112% rise over Q1 of 2007.

 In raw numbers, around 650,000 homes have between repossessed, or 1 in every 194 households in America.

  -foreclosures increased in 46 states and in 90 of the nation's 100 largest metro areas.

 -previously "safe" areas saw massive foreclosure filing: Connecticut saw 300% increase, while Massachusetts saw a 260% increase.

 -the worst area for foreclosures is the Southwest, specifically California, Nevada and Arizona.  Foreclosure hit 1 of every 54 homes in Nevada, and 1 in 44 homes in Las Vegas.  Stockton, California remains the epicenter of the crisis, with 1 in 30 homes being foreclosed, with Riverside/San Bernardino coming in second with 1 in 38 homes foreclosed.

 If we were to look at the total economy of  the United States, and especially California, Nevada and Arizona you will see that the gas has gone from $3.00 per gallon a year ago to $5.00 in  some areas now,  and at the least $ 4.89 per gallon. Food costs across the board have gone up in the first quarter by 6%.  People are not buying cars, furniture, going out to eat, remodeling their homes, going to movies, theya re opting to do their own yard work instead of having a gardener. and they are not going on vacations the way they were a year ago.  People area cutting back in every area of their lives and most if not all of this began with the housing market tumble.

 People are holding off selling their homes in the most devastated area due to the glut of houses they can buy for less because they are foreclosures.

 For the nay sayers I would say this, IF your market is good and you are still making the same money you did a year ago they I bless you and hope it continues, for those of you paddling in my boat, just put on your life jacket and keep rowing.

Black and White

(Under age 40? You won't understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow, and you got the day off school to play with sleds, but you also had to shovel the driveway.

It was your job to cut the grass on the weekends. No one hired a "yard maintenance" fellow to do it for you.

 To get good reception on the TV you would spread  the rabbit ears as far as they go and if that didn't work you would hang a coat hanger off one of them. We even had to get up to change the channels, once in awhile adjust the horizontal and the vertical.

 We would pull a chair up to the TV set so we could see better.  Our TV was round.

"Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet." The nights when Ed Sullivan came on the entire neighborhood would come to our house to watch.

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e coli.  We had neighbors ( and we did sometimes too) to borrow a cup of sugar or an egg or whatever.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

I remember the boys trying to kiss all the girls and not one parent sued for sexual harassment.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake or the irrigation canal  instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring),  and there were no beach closures then.

We all took gym, not PE, and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.  We all had to "change" for gym and shower after gym.

Flunking gym was not an option - even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.  Who remembers calisthenics? I sure do! We did them everyday.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.  In grade school standing in the coat room was so embarrassing because all of the other kids made fun of you for getting into trouble.  It wasn't something to laugh at or make you more friends.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches.

What an archaic health system we had  then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a white uniform and a hat. She also gave the inoculation shots when the time came for our shots or boosters.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I  just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station,  Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah, and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got a scrape and what was an allergy? I could have been died!

We  played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction  sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of  Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did)  and then we got our butts spanked.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. I didn't act up at the neighbor's house or in stores or restaurants either; because if I did, I got my butt spanked when I got home.  I remember riding home in the car with my mom and she would say, "You know when you get home you will get a spanking for doing...." About 10 minutes from home I would start crying because my mom always kept her promise.

I remember a friend from down the way coming over to play and she fell off the horse we were riding. Little did her Mom know that she could have owned our house.  It was a society run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew, was ever told, that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T; SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER?

I will tell you right now that the information that I have posted is from Wikipedia

The information was so voluminous and in depth that I just didn't want to be accused of, or run the risk of, putting my own spin on the material. 

I am older than most of you on Active Rain and I will tell you in my entire lifetime I have never seen such a debunkel in the housing market, ever. This is such a serious matter for so many families.  Yes, some will recover to buy another day, but there are those that will never recover from losing their homes and or their jobs due to what has happened in the housing market.

The time for pointing fingers has passed.  Each industry has had their part, as have a few of the home buyers, the sad truth is, we are here.  The time has passed for saying that this "market correction" will weed out the bad Realtors.  Too many good agents have had to leave the profession and try to find work elsewhere. The sad truth is they did not have the money to sustain themselves while the market corrected.

I know we are all hearing about the glut of buyers there are in the market right now.  Yes, it is true that there are buyers out there, but with the regulations in the mortgage industry and the regs getting tighter most of those buyers don't or won't qualify. Gone are the days of 100% financing unless you have AAA credit.  Yes, I know there is one major company that will still consider 100% but that is a crap shoot at best.  Also, gone are the day's of unstated.  It is harder now for the buyer in the market. What buyers are there, think they can get a home that was selling for $700,000 six months ago for $230,000 now.

It is time to start educating the buyers to the fact that the day has returned when they now  (again) have to save for the down payment and closing cost ( in some cases) of 20/30%.  Rude awakening for the younger market that is used to getting houses their parents only dreamed of having and then going into debt to furnish it in grand style.

It is time for the agents that are left and are doing well to consider how they are and will continue to market themselves to help the market regain some of its allure. Not in false promises or making a killing on the backs of those less fourtunate.

I guess you can tell I have seen some of the above and it makes me nervous.  I have seen agents tell their clients although they will have to take less for the home, they are selling it will sell.

I know not all states have not been as badly effected as California, but they have all been effected to some degree and it is time that we recognize that when you dance you have to pay the band.

I know the following material is long but I would be interested in hearing what you have to say about what you are experiencing in your market.

Wikipedia

Bubble bursts

The booming housing market appears to have halted abruptly for many parts of the U.S. in late summer of 2005, and as of summer 2006, several markets are facing the issues of ballooning inventories, falling prices, and sharply reduced sales volumes. In August 2006, Barron's magazine warned, "a housing crisis approaches", and noted that the median price of new homes has dropped almost 3% since January 2006, that new-home inventories hit a record in April and remain near all-time highs, that existing-home inventories are 39% higher than they were just one year ago, and that sales are down more than 10%, and predicts that "the national median price of housing will probably fall by close to 30% in the next three years ... simple reversion to the mean."^[15] Fortune magazine labelled many previously strong housing markets as "Dead Zones;"^[16] other areas are classified as "Danger Zones" and "Safe Havens." Fortune also dispelled "four myths about the future of home prices."^[78] In Boston, year-over-year prices are dropping,^[163] sales are falling, inventory is increasing, foreclosures are up,^[17][18] and the correction in Massachusetts has been called a "hard landing".^[164] The previously booming^[11] housing markets in Washington, D.C., San Diego, Phoenix, and other cities have stalled as well.^[165][166] Searching the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) shows that in summer 2006, the for-sale housing inventory in Phoenix has grown to over 50,000 homes, of which nearly half are vacant (see graphic).^[19] Several home builders have revised their forecasts sharply downward during summer 2006, e.g., D.R. Horton cut its yearly earnings forecast by one-third in July 2006,^[167] the value of luxury home builder Toll Brothers' stock fell 50% between August 2005 and August 2006,^[168] and the Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index was down over 40% as of mid-August 2006.^[169] CEO Robert Toll of Toll Brothers explained, "builders that built speculative homes are trying to move them by offering large incentives and discounts; and some anxious buyers are canceling contracts for homes already being built."^[170] Homebuilder Kara Homes, known for their construction of "McMansions", announced on September 13, 2006 the "two most profitable quarters in the history of our company", yet filed for bankruptcy protection less than one month later on 6 October.^[171] Six months later on April 10, 2007, Kara Homes sold unfinished developments, causing prospective buyers from the previous year to lose deposits, some of whom put down more than $100,000.^[172]

As the housing market began to soften in winter 2005 through summer 2006,^[173][174] NAR chief economist David Lereah predicted a "soft landing" for the market.^[175] However, based on unprecedented rises in inventory and a sharply slowing market throughout 2006, Leslie Appleton-Young, the chief economist of the California Association of Realtors, said that she is not comfortable with the mild term "soft landing" to describe what is actually happening in California's real estate market.^[176] The Financial Times warned of the impact on the U.S. economy of the "hard edge" in the "soft landing" scenario, saying "A slowdown in these red-hot markets is inevitable. It may be gentle, but it is impossible to rule out a collapse of sentiment and of prices... If housing wealth stops rising... the effect on the world's economy could be depressing indeed."^[177] "It would be difficult to characterize the position of home builders as other than in a hard landing", said Robert Toll, CEO of Toll Brothers.^[178] Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial, said "I've never seen a soft-landing in 53 years, so we have a ways to go before this levels out. I have to prepare the company for the worst that can happen."^[179] Following these reports, Lereah admitted that "he expects home prices to come down 5% nationally", and said that some cities in Florida and California could have "hard landings."^[20] National home sales and prices both fell dramatically again in March 2007 according to NAR data, with sales down 13% to 482,000 from the peak of 554,000 in March 2006 and the national median price falling nearly 6% to $217,000 from the peak of $230,200 in July 2006 . The plunge in existing-home sales is the steepest since 1989.^[21] The new home market is also suffering. The biggest year over year drop in median home prices since 1970 occurred in April of 2007. Median prices for new homes fell 10.9 percent according to the Commerce Department.^[180]

Based on slumping sales and prices in August 2006, economist Nouriel Roubini warned that the housing sector is in "free fall" and will derail the rest of the economy, causing a recession in 2007.^[27] Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, agreed, saying that the U.S. may enter a recession as house prices decline.^[181] The extent to which the economic slowdown, or possible recession, will last depends in large part on the resiliency of the U.S. consumer spending, which now makes up approximately 70% of the US$13.7 trillion economy. The evaporation of the wealth effect amid the current housing downturn could negatively affect the consumer confidence and provide further headwind for the U.S. economy and that of the rest of the world. The World Bank recently lowered the global economic growth rate due to a housing slowdown in the United States, but it does not believe that the U.S. housing malaise will further spread to the rest of the world. The Fed chairman Benjamin Bernanke said in October 2006 that there is currently a "substantial correction" going on in the housing market and that the decline of residential housing construction is one of the "major drags that is causing the economy to slow"; he predicted that the correcting market will decrease U.S. economic growth by about one percent in the second half of 2006 and remain a drag on expansion into 2007.^[182] The White House Council of Economic Advisers recently lowered their outlook for U.S. economic growth in 2008 from 3.1 percent to 2.7 percent and forecast higher unemployment, reflecting turmoil in the credit markets and residential real-estate market. The Bush Administration economic advisers also revised their unemployment outlook and predict the unemployment rate could rise slightly above 5 percent, up from the current unemployment rate of 4.6 percent.^[183]

Others speculate on the negative impact of the retirement of the Baby Boom generation and the relative cost to rent on the declining housing market.^[184][185] In many parts of the United States, it is significantly cheaper to rent the same property than to purchase it; the national median mortgage payment is $1,687 per month, nearly twice the median rent payment of $868 per month.^[91] However, the appreciation of home prices in many parts of the country has lured many renters to become homeowners. Yet the appreciation of home values far exceeded the income growth of many of these homebuyers, pushing them to leverage themselves beyond their means. They borrowed even more money in order to purchase homes that were far more expensive than their ability to meet their mortgage obligations. Many of these homebuyers took out adjustable-rate mortgages during the period of low interest rates to purchase homes of their dreams. Initially, they were able to meet their mortgage obligations due to their low "teaser" rates in the first few years. However, as the Federal Reserve Bank exercised monetary contraction policy in 2005, many homeowners were stunned when their adjustable-rate mortgages began to reset to much higher rates in mid-2007 and their monthly payments jumped far above their ability to meet the monthly mortgage payments. Some homeowners began to default on their mortgages in mid-2007 and the cracks in the U.S. housing foundation began to appear.

OK so call me crazy.  I thought Active Rain was for those connected in some way with the building industry.  Did I miss something?

I know it has been several months since I worked AR but I was floored when I was answering the posts that had arrived while I was gone.  I came upon a post sent from AR.  One Anna Johnson.  She was telling me in here note that she had an investment deal she wanted to to take a look at.  In as nice a way as possible I told her that at this time I wasn't interested in any other venturers and not be to surprised if I said no.  I thought that would be the end of it. 

I went to AR and checked and sure enough she is a member with 196 points.  I thought well if she is new it might take her some time to get her profile in shape to post and also to ge the hang of AR.

Well later that night I got a reply from her..........it was one of those darn letters from the individuals that are, "poor refugees without parents, but whoes parents have left them $7,000,000. and they have to have help getting it out of the country of origin. 

Who would have thought?  NOT ON AR TOO!  I was bombarded with those darn things for the longest time last year but thought the had given up.

I would be interested in knowing if anyone else had heard from her or do I just have "stupid" tattooed on my forehead?

Color me livid. 

Quote Of The Day

" Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

- Albert Einstein

As some of you who like my posts and are faithful readers have noticed I have been absent from ActiveRain since the end of the year. 

I want to thank all of-you that sent inquires as to my health and wellbeing.  I will briefly tell you how my New Year started and then I will attempt to answer each of you individually day by day.

On Jan 1,2008 I made a trip to Texas to visit my daughter and had a delightful time.  Om my return trip via American Airlines I boarded the plan only to be held at the boarding gate for two hours before the plane was allowed to take off.  Now normally I don't partake of the meal (?) they offer to SELL you because I value not only my health but my taste buds as well, but not being a breakfast eater and having spent almost 4 hours in the terminal and the airplane before take off I thought what the heck, I bought one of  their "gourmet" sandwiches.  Which I did. I ate that with a coke to choke er, ah, swallow it down. On arriving home I had dinner which my son, who is NOT  a gourmet cook thoughtfully fixed for us.  It didn't go down very well and the next morning I really didn't feel very well.  In fact the night before I felt very nauseated.  As the day progressed I felt worse and I realized by the end of the day I was really sick.  I wasn't sure if it was the airline food or the recirculated air they talk about, but not being prone to the flu I thought more about food poisoning.  But as the days went buy with frequent (every ten minutes) runs to the bathroom, I soon realized I must have the flu.  I was down in bed for six weeks and was about to go to the doctor when I started feeling better.  But it was a tough six weeks.  It took another three weeks to get my strength back.

Then an unexpected move came up and I have been busy packing and unpacking trying to get settled so I could get back to work.

Not that any of you really wanted to know this much but I thought I would let you know I'm still here. I wasn't just being, or ignoring those who were kind enough to write.

I guess I have to agree with the quote.  Being a very healthy person most of the time, I don't count my health as a blessing as often as I should , so from now on, I will count that which can't be counted more often and I will ignore that which can be counted....except for you my dear friends and readers.

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat."
- Napoleon Hill

After the dream comes Desire. If you have lost your desire you have certainly lost your dream.  When that happens it is time to go back to square one and dream again.

If you are not dreaming of your Real Estate Career and it's success then you should reconsider what it is you do what out of life.  It is no sin to admit that you chose the wrong profession, however it is a sin to stay in Real Estate if  you don't Desire to help those in need of finding or selling their homes.  Look to that which makes your heart sing and you will find your dream and the desire will be there. 

By finding your dream your desire will set the world on fire.