What I Learned In Year 27

I am not one for self-aggrandizing, but since it is my birthday tomorrow, I think that I am afforded a chance to talk about how great of a year it has been.  I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to write about for the week of my birthday for a bit, and what better to discuss than what I feel like I have learned about myself and my life in the last year?  If you’re reading this, you know it’s probably been my biggest and craziest year on Earth yet, so I’m not necessarily lacking in things to discuss.  With two kids, a major job change, and just everything else life has, it’s been an insane 365.  So-here we go.

                First off, the biggest thing I have learned (and known to be constantly true), is that God is very good, all of the time.  For the past couple of years, Hillary and I have been assisting in leading a house church along with some other Ethos members.  As a 2, this has been really fruitful for my soul and has given both of us great friendships built on the mutual aspect of our faith.  However, for the last 9 months since the boys have been born, our schedule has obviously been conflicting with a lot of things that we usually do socially.  However, our friends in our small group have been so good to us.  They never lack in checking in, allowing us to stay connected when we’re able to, and letting us hop back in as leaders this upcoming year.  Due to making the boys stay very strict to their schedule- for ours and their sanities alike- it’s been hard to get back in the groove of church on Sundays and small group on Tuesday.  While we are obviously blessed just in general by our benevolent God, I am particularly thankful for the small group of people He has put around us that have helped us with this life change. 

                Second, while I already knew this before we got news of Hillary’s pregnancy and getting to meet our guys in September, it’s been even more revealed to me how incredible my wife is.  When we first started dating and began getting serious about our relationship, we discussed how big of a family we wanted, just like every couple does when it gets down to that point in the relationship.  She wanted to have one and see how she felt about it going forward thinking about the possibility of another child.  I, on the other hand, knew I wanted two kids because I’ve just always had the pleasure of being extremely close with Bailey.  Well, as you all know, we got both of our wishes in one go.  That morning will forever be seared in to my memory.  Obviously for the aspect of getting to meet my children, but getting to share that with such a special person changed my life in a matter of seconds.  I knew when I met her that I wanted her to be the mother in my family, but I couldn’t have imagined the joy that I would get in watching her interact with our boys.  She is nothing short of a spectacular mother to them.  And on top of that, she has worked extremely hard.  She got off of maternity leave at the start of real estate busy season and hasn’t missed a beat.  She has sacrificed a lot of time that most people get to spend with their new kids to help us get through my  job transition to real estate, putting our family unit above herself.   I could not imagine a more perfect mate for me than her, and she’s everything that I could ask for.

                Lastly, the switch to real estate has been a really interesting move for me.  Last September, I had my license but wasn’t really doing much with it.  No marketing, no website or blog posts related to my work, etc.  I had some help from Charlie to get my first few transactions off the ground, but not much more other than that.  In April, Hillary let me jump off the cliff and go full-time.  Since then, it’s been a lot of trial and error.  Made a great video that got a lot of views but no actual traction in my business.  I’ve written thousands of words and have had really good response and feedback on most of them.  Had some articles that I thought were home runs that five people would read.  Forced myself to start doing more video marketing, something I never thought I would do because I can’t stand the sound of myself on camera nor was it natural for me to do self-video.  All that to say, it’s been an exciting move for me.  I needed to mentally get out of my comfort zone and push myself, which is something that I have never done in my entire life.  I’ve consistently been a cautious decision maker, always trying to think ahead as to what can set me up in a safe position moving forward.  I needed to push myself outside of that zone to allow my creative side to flourish.   And even outside of my internal need for change, it’s been a good business move for me.  With my mortgage and title background, I was really set up to be a good agent from the get-go.  Now, combined with what I have learned from the agents I work with and my own studies, I consider myself to be a really good agent.  I greatly appreciate the people that have allowed me to help them so far this year, and I look forward to being the best agent I can be going forward for my future clients.  If you’re reading this and considering a move in the real estate market, I’m going to crush it for you.  I have no doubts about that.

                As I said in the opening, this has been the most ridiculous, roller-coaster, fun-filled, love-filled year of my entire life.  Last September I had a pregnant wife, but didn’t really understand the gravity of how my life would be impacted by adding two humans to our unit.  Our boys are our world.  If you don’t have kids, it’s like someone handing you a billion dollars in a duffle bag, and saying, “guard this with your life, love it, don’t let anything happen to the bag, invest wisely with it so that you can allow it to flourish and manifest.  Everything that you do in the macro and the micro is going to affect this billion-dollar duffle bag.  Don’t screw it up.”  That’s a lot of pressure, right?  Well, there is no more precious cargo to me than Callahan and Sebastian.  While the weight of providing for them and loving them is great, I wouldn’t choose anything else other than them and Hillary.  I think that twenty-eight is going to be just as fruitful for me as twenty-seven has been.  I’ll get to see my boys walk for the first time in the next couple of months.  I’ll get to expand my business profile and help more people set themselves up in a better home situation.  And I’ll get to love the most wonderful woman on the planet for another trip around the Sun.  Thank you, everyone, for being in my corner and allowing me to be in yours.