"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into
enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order,
confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home,
a stranger into a friend."
---MelodyBeattie, American Author
November is a great month to give thanks and a nice time for reflection. Thanks to Jeff DowIer, I have an opportunity to give thanks to some of the people I met in person from ActiveRain to whom I give a lot of gratitude.
Sharon Parisi was the first Dallas REALTOR® I became acquainted with as a result of ActiveRain. Before then, we never knew each other. We did not work on a transaction, meet as a result of a local meeting, training, or seminar. I am thankful to Sharon because she is trustworthy, we share many of the same values, she’s very intelligent, and when it comes to business, I can count on her. When I went out of the country, the only person I could trust explicitly with my pending business was Sharon. She is someone I am blessed to have as a friend.
When I discovered Kat Palmiotti on ActiveRain I immediately got a sense of trustworthiness. I enjoyed her tales about the Appalachian Trails and the short letters and notes she found in the box left on the trails. Kat’s posts were interesting! In my younger days, I was always inspired to hike down the Appalachian Trails from Maine to GA but never found anyone willing to share that experience with me and I was too chicken to do it alone. As time went on, Kat and I discovered we crisscrossed in Kalispell for the same reasons. I also planned to move there after discovering how beautiful it was while attending writer conferences. I never considered myself a good writer and thought I could learn something by attending conferences. I found support by the writers in MT. In September, 2019 Kat and I met for the first time at that conference. We had the best time. When we went to Glacier National Park the weather wasn’t in our favor and taking the bus took too long to get to any destinations quickly. But it was still fun for me to get to know her on a personal level. She continues to have hopes and dreams and I look forward to the day I can get back to MT to visit with her and the land that I love. Also, Kat is an excellent cook. She’s very intelligent and trustworthy.
I found Brian England very sociable on ActiveRain. One day he notified me he was going to TX for a family wedding and we made plans to meet. Although the distance between where I live and the city where the wedding was taking place was far, I still made an effort to meet him and his family in a quaint little town at a coffee shop where we warmed up because of the torrential summer storm. When I got out of my car, I think the rain was up to the middle of my calves. My hair was drenched and you might as well say I was wearing a wet suit that day but the four of us snuggled up inside a booth and had warm conversations. It was so much fun to connect with Brian and his family. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that human touch you get when you read his blog posts comes from being raised with family values. The power of meeting face-to-face in human form rather than Zoom is very powerful to me. We agree our friendship will last.
While working on my CRS Designation, I learned that Lisa Von Domek and Debe Maxwell, CRS were planning to attend Celebrations from the CRS organization in February 2018. The event was held at Gaylord Texas in Grapevine. I knew Lisa because we met in San Antonio with Jerry Newman years before where we had an AR Meet-Up. Plus, Lisa and I were on the same Committee in Dallas for Contracts & Forms at our local Board. We really struck up an easy friendship. I learned that Jeff Dowler, CRS was planing to be at Gaylord Texas, along with Sylvia Dukes so I couldn't wait to meet them all! I brought my camera and contacted Sharon Parisi to meet us. On this day, I met beautiful minds; beautiful people and it was all as a result of ActiveRain. I grabbed someone from Guest Services who took our picture. I couldn't have asked for a better meeting of the minds with such wonderful members of AR and CRS.
- Randy Prothero (CRS/AR, Milalan, HI)
- Jeff Dowlder (CRS/AR, Carlsbad, CA)
- Lisa Von Domek (CRS/AR, Cedar Hills, TX)
- Debe Maxwell (CRS/AR, Charlotte, NC)
- Christei Silver (CRS
- Silvia Dukes (CRS/AR, Silver Hills, FL)
- Joanne Fraser (CRS/AR, Los Altos, CA)
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