A Thankful Heart

This holiday season, it’s hard to not look back on the past six years and smile. So clearly that I can see myself walking through the back door of my home after a long shift at the police department. My husband had just put our daughter to bed and he had this look of fear and excitement on his face. You see, for the past few months we, as a family, were trying to figure out how to balance our careers, our marriage, and most importantly, being parents. We had asked each other, “How does this look in five years? How will we continue to advance but not at the cost of our family?” We knew in our hearts it wasn’t acceptable for both of us to continually miss our daughter’s events, plays, and nighttime routine. But we each loved our careers and had worked very hard to get where we were.

It was in that moment that Don asked if I would ever leave the police department and try my hand at something else. He went on to explain that DeAnna had called and picked his brain about me joining her business. I cried. I walked upstairs, woke Alyse up and rocked her as tears of relief rolled down my face.  

Don’t get me wrong. It was still a difficult decision for our family. I was leaving a stable job and one where I had already succeeded. A job that came with health insurance, retirement and endless possibilities. At the same time, I had witnessed DeAnna build her business for more than a decade and saw the level of success she had achieved. I knew how hard the real estate world could be, the ups and downs, the demands and the drama. I had seen how every client is essentially your Chief of Police and how your heart is entangled in every transaction. I knew accepting the opportunity before me was a huge risk, but I also trusted that with great risk comes great reward.

Six years later I couldn’t be more happy with my decision. From day one I wanted to provide a service… but not to our real estate clients like you may think, but rather to DeAnna. I wanted to help balance her life, too. At that time she also had a young child, and in many ways was doing the same dance I felt while at the department, the dance of trying to balance it all. As a new mother who strives for perfection, who is accustomed to succeeding at anything because they are willing to work harder than anyone, this can be one of the most difficult thing to overcome. We knew we would work well together, and even against some people’s advice we took the leap of faith and started working as a team.

In addition to relieving some of the workload for De, I also had a secret goal of surpassing her record for volume of sales closed. I am incredibly proud to announce that as of last month, we did it! In the last six years we have fine tuned our business practices and formed lasting relationships with clients, industry professionals, and other brokers, who have undoubtedly contributed to our success. We are humbled by the outpouring of support and so deeply grateful our business has let us grow as mothers, wives, and women. We couldn’t do it without you and should we have the opportunity to work with you now or in the future, we would be honored to do so.
At Thanksgiving and throughout the year I can easily say I have a grateful heart. And to DeAnna… Thank you will never be enough. You took a risk too. You believed when others doubted. You had a vision for your business, your family and our future.