by ©Patricia Feager, 1/24/2017
Ringing and Singing in the Rain 2017- An ActiveRain Challenge
Official 2017 Blog JUMPSTART Challenge - Enhance YOUR Personal Best
Courage
When Mark Don McInnes, Sandpoint moved from Lake Tahoe, CA working in Highway Construction to North Idaho he just knew he wanted a different type of challenge. It took courage to walk away and to follow his life's purpose. Mark became a Real Estate Agent. In his heart, he knew he wanted to wake up every morning, to look at himself in the mirror, knowing he made the right decision. But the reality of not getting a regular pay-check caused him to get a second job at the Lumber Mill, thinking he could grow his business and still earn a paycheck using the income as a safety net. Working at the Mill is hard labor. The intensity of physical labor on a man who isn’t a kid anymore is brutal. His defining moment was when he made the decision to quit torturing his body at the Mill and become a Full-Time Agent. It takes courage to walk away from a job, move to another state, enter a new profession, work two jobs; then decide his life's purpose IS only one profession, Real Estate.
No Regrets
As a full-time Agent, Mark leads a healthy life and he is happier helping others to fulfill their life dreams in Real Estate. With no regrets, he is happy being a successful business owner and gets steady business. He knows how to balance his time while maintaining physical exercise for leisure. When he isn't working, he enjoys riding 14 to 40 miles when he can and when it can’t he rides his stationary bike. Achieving his life's purpose helps him to give back to Rotary and the Community. Mark would be very pleased to get referrals from members of ActiveRain and enjoys blogging. This is a man with a big heart.
I enjoyed talking to Mark very much. He has a good judge of character and an understanding of people. Mark calls himself a simple man who enjoys simple pleasures with his Newfie, Halley, best friend, and constant companion. They are always together. When I asked him how he acquired Halley, he told me that he adopted her. He wasn’t even looking to buy a dog, but as fate would have it, he took a walk one day when he ran into a big, burly man with a large Mastiff. The dog took to Mark like a duck takes to water and Mark and the big burley guy started talking on a personal level. Then the man told him about a lady selling a dog that he might be interested in meeting.
Without hesitation, Mark took off walking down the streets looking for the lady with the dog. Just about the time, he was about to give up, he saw the woman and dog. In that moment, Mark knew, that girl Halley was his and he adopted her. They say Newfloundland dogs excel at water rescue/lifesaving. So the question is, did Mark really adopt Halley? Or was Halley, a lifesaver, a dog who just happened to come along at the right time because of a human intervention between a big burley man and his Mastiff, another giant dog who intellectually knew Mark and Halley were meant for each other?
Read all about Mark's Halley below:
Day 3 - Grateful for Halley in Sandpoint Idaho
I would be remiss were I not to mention how fortunate I have been with my 4 legged newfie buddies. Before Halley, there were Bilbo and then Grizzly. Both incredibly perfect for where I was at personally at that moment in my life. I could tell stories of both for days.
Halley continues to amaze me. She wins me over more and more daily. As we know unconditional love is what our four legged buddies are best known for. But Halley has given me so much more beyond that. She has taught me a patience that I never thought possible of myself. It is directly as a result of her.
Even more wonderful is how she bends over backwards to please me. Not to mess up what she knows is expected of her by me. And yet she does this while also keeping her own independence. An admirable trait of which I am in awe of how well she walks that line. Something I now strive to improve on in myself as well.
I am truly grateful for Halley and her antics along with her love. From her sending me to the chriorpractor after having spotted a cat (before me) while walking, doing her happy dance when wanting out, pacing like a hamster in the back of my car, running and showing off when pleased to see me all within just 6 inches of running out of rope, insisting on laying in walking paths of the home so I am in constant danger of tripping over an unseen black mass, the sheer joy of going with me every morning as if she has been left behind the previous month, seeing the joy she gives people when they ask to pet her, getting me out for walks with her, and so much more I could get stuck typing here all night.
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