I’m what they refer to as a “short timer” now. Today, in preparation for my departure at the end of this month, I was replaced as Broker-In-Charge of my real estate firm. Feels weird. Up ’til now, I don’t think folks believed I was actually going to leave – everyone figured I’d change my mind. Now that it’s apparent I really am moving to Florida, everyone has started talking about how strange it is going to be not having me around. I’ve already had several goodbye lunches with friends and coworkers and every day gets just a little harder. Leaving the Outer Banks will not be especially difficult but leaving the people is another thing entirely. I have made such wonderful friends here during the past 11 years and I will miss everyone so much.
Late this afternoon, Colleen, a fellow agent who used to be my real estate assistant and is now a successful Broker in her own right, rushed into my office, plunked a shopping bag down on my desk, then rushed out saying she couldn’t watch me open it because she would cry. Instead, I sat all alone in the deserted building and dug through wads of multi-colored tissue paper to find a wall plaque containing the following verse:
DANCE as though no one is watching you,
LOVE as though you have never been hurt before,
SING as though no one can hear you,
LIVE as though heaven is on earth.
What Colleen doesn’t know (yet) is how absolutely perfect this gift is. My current home on the Outer Banks is quite large – 5 bedrooms and 3000 square feet. My new home in Sarasota is a tiny little two bedroom, 1 bath apartment over a Wellness center, which I will be sharing with an old friend, Joan. In preparation for my move, Joan hired a feng shui expert to rearrange the furniture and make room for me. She told me that a specific corner of my bedroom was the “prosperity corner” and offered to give me some artwork to hang in this area. For some reason I felt strongly that I was supposed to find my own prosperity artwork – or let it find me. The moment I read the plaque, I knew it was the perfect piece of art to hang in that corner, because the prosperity I seek is not monetary – rather I am in search of a prosperity of the soul; a happiness that has eluded me most of my life. No better words could describe the type of life I want to live from now on. And I was the one shedding big, fat tears.
Very heart warming story. I too felt tears close to the surface just reading it.
I needed to wait a few days to write. I hope Barbara that you know everyone who has had a chance to get to know you has experienced growth. For me to know someone with a strong desire to experience all that being alive has to offer is awesome. Although you won’t be in the office down the hall I love knowing I can check in right here. The plaque was a gift from the heart. Find it all….
I also shed a few tears. Amazingly, that is very simular to the quote on my sisters memorial bench. It was her favorite saying and hung on the wall in her bedroom. Makes me think she approves of this move.