May 20
When I went in to work, everything was the same. The candy dish was still on the counter. The receptionist was still answering the phones. The coffee was bubbling away as usual. Everything was the same except me.
I normally love the dark wood paneling and the logo, a sailboat superimposed over a compass, etched in the glass doors. The etching sparkles in the morning sun, sending prisms of light across the front of the reception desk. The counters covered in dark granite with streaks of green and aqua lights are cool to the touch during the hot summers. Usually the office looked rich, successful, stable. Today it looked dark, oppressive, ominous.
I sat at my desk looking at the report I spent ten hours putting together Friday. Why did I spend that time away from my family? No one cared if that report was finished Friday, today or tomorrow.
My reports that were so important last week, helped people make decisions. Decisions about whether to buy, sell, or develop properties. That’s what we did, develop and manage properties. At least, that’s what they did. I wasn’t sure what I did anymore.
This report listed all of the vacant space that needed to be leased. There was a couple of suites in a medical building, the fourth floor in a downtown office building, and an empty retail space two thousand square feet next to an anchor tenant in one of our strip shopping centers. Good space, should lease easily. The list went on.
Taking numbers and data and turning it into pictures and graphs. That’s what I did. I spent time from my husband and son writing a report about empty space, air, nothing.
All morning my office door kept opening. People coming and going, complaining as they always do. A salesman felt his territory had been encroached on. The receptionist didn’t get her break. Someone was taking lunches out of the refrigerator again. Everyone was looking to me to mediate the complaints. They came to me expecting understanding and solutions. But like the empty report on my empty desk, today I could only looked at them with empty eyes.
I know I have not commented before, but I have been enjoying your writing, and I know from personal experience how much work can go into even a short piece, and that writing 500 -1000 words can be a real effort. So not commenting whilst enjoying would so wrong on many levels.
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Hi Don,
I totally understand. We all have limited time. I’m glad you’re enjoying my posts. Thank you for your support. Dee
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Outstanding. I’m still on the edge of my seat. 🙂
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Thank you. I appreciate the encouragement.
dee
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You’re welcome. Sigh. We all need encouragement at one time or another. Onward and forward. 😀
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That is a feeling that is hard to shake. The importance of other priorities are significantly deminished.
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Hey John,
I agree. When something really important happens, the day to day stuff falls away.
Thanks.
Dee
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🙂
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I’m running out of thongs to say. But like I said earlier, you show how this can change people’s lives. You e done it even better here. You write from the heart and that’s what I love about your writing. Courtney
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