What does work ethic mean to you?

What does work ethic mean to you? To some of us it is simply a statement made by or an idea promoted by our parents or grandparent. To some it is a complaint held over their head by employers, parents or teachers. To me it means doing what needs done even when you don’t wanna…

Having 3 children, these words “Work Ethic” get used quite a bit. Sometimes as a Positive, sometimes not… but over the last few weeks it has come to mean even more to me. You see, last Friday my husband (who is also a REALTOR® and works in at Local Hawaii Real Estate with me) went into the ophthalmologist complaining of blurred vision and black spots in his left eye. The diagnosis shocked us both, “Detached retina!? What? How?”. No reason, sometimes it just happens… “What do we do now?”. Well, living on a Hawaii island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is wonderful… MOST of the time, not this time. Our island does not have the facilities, thankfully the Pali Momi medical center in Honolulu does. Emergency flights to Oahu (oh, did I mention Hubby had lost his wallet with all ID the week before? ), hotel arrangements, packing, cleaning, taxis, doctors, surgeons, calls to friends, family, co-workers, etc… Earliest scheduling of an operating room was the next Monday.  I hope to never experience another weekend like that, watching my husband’s vision slip further and further into the dark knowing that the longer we wait the worse the odds… The good news is that he has an AWESOME Surgeon (Mahalo Nui Loa Dr. Ng!). All the arrangements came together and the surgery went well, it’s been only 4 days and his vision is beginning to recover. He looks like he went 3 rounds with Mike Tyson but that will heal. Technology and modern medicine, amazing…

The whole point is… what was my husband doing just minutes before going under the “laser”? Yep, on the phone with a client confirming that he had received documentation from the attorney and it would be presented the following day. During the procedure I was in the waiting room e-mailing forms to clients (thank you BlackBerry!) and getting caught up with Buyer clients. As soon as hubby is out of recovery we go out to dinner (no lounging around for this guy and no thank you, saltine crackers will not cut it when he wasn’t allowed to eat for 10 hours before surgery, Boy was HUNGRY! Thankfully the Like Like Diner is just around the corner from the Pagoda Hotel), and visit over our meal about which escrow is doing what and what buyer is best suited for that “great deal” that just came on the market. Now, to me…that’s Work Ethic.

P.S. And if you wonder where he is right now? 2 desks away, working… <3