01/31/2026
Beginnings.
Every day, it starts with a cup of coffee. A cup and saucer, that life giving brown bitter liquid slightly sweetened and softened with a wee bit of cream.
This moments of early morning silence and reverie begin all of my days. I muse. I ponder. I scroll and think of moments with meaning.
Yesterday I went down with my real estate colleagues to the annual Ruhl&Ruhl awards event. All dressed up in glitter and arrived to a star studied venue with hundreds of other agents. There our company’s superstars of real estate production were celebrated.
I wasn’t one of them.
It’s a humbling experience, not to be on the vid screens or on stage. I’ve always worked my way to the top of my career, being driven to succeed. Yet. As busy as I was last year as a real estate agent, I didn’t make it to awards level.
I think I heard that one real estate agent in the Quad cities area closed more than one transaction a week. As in over 70 specific representations of buyers or sellers. That’s a closing or two every week or so. That’s 70 negotiated contracts on 70 different properties. And that doesn’t represent all of the deals that did not make it to close.
I left the event, not necessarily inspired. Thoughtful. Bonnie let me drive her beautiful Buick Enclave on the way home and we chatted about this and that. Neither one of us was up for the no doubt wild after party going late into the evening. Or the infamous bus ride on the way back.
Got home, shivering. Soberly considering my goals and the realistic level of productivity as a real estate agent in Dubuque, Iowa. Thought about the focus and the care and the value I always try to bring to the people I work with in the course of real estate selling or purchasing. About the always appreciated personal referrals that my friends send my way because they believe in me and my knowledge, expertise, skills, and drive to help people find their way home.
I think about the people I’ve helped.
No, I didn’t get to walk across that stage last night. And nobody applauded me for all the work I’ve done.
But I’ll tell you, the immeasurable satisfaction I have in working with and helping the people that the universe sends my way is worth more than a moment of accolades.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll help more people this year. It’s a start.
Today, grateful for not being a superstar. For my own level of success. For smooth rides in warm cars on long Iowa country highways. For good friends and good conversations. For all of you. For beginnings. For morning coffee.