The Putnam Scoop

Geesh, I almost made it through all of December without a single post. If I have readers, I apologize for that. Things have been, well, depressing.

We started off New Year’s Day 2008 with my Uncle’s burial and wrapped up the year with my younger cousin’s on Christmas Eve. It’s just been a year that has beaten me down somewhat, but if I stand on tip-toe and turn around to peek over fresh grief, I can see there was a LOT of good in the year.

This is me counting my blessings, and maybe my blog taking a turn for the more personal.

The year starts off with my Little One’s birthday. We started a new tradition of having the girls make a donation to a charity on their birthdays. Little One chose Underwear for Africa, and below you can see her making her selections. My kids mean the world to me, and it’s amazing to watch them grow into themselves.

Yes, we lost loved ones this year - but we got to keep some, too. Lori battled cancer and kicked it’s ass, and I am so thankful! She showed grace and strength in an extremely difficult time, and I learned that sometimes our best heroes are regular people who just keep going. I also learned that people really do have a strong drive to help each other. In this picture, Lori’s holding up a sign my friend Chris Griffith wore in a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, “In Celebration of Lori WV.” Chris lives in Florida and has never met Lori, she just wanted to give a little extra support to someone who needed it. I got two heroes for the price of one there, didn’t I?

In May I went from selling real estate to working for Real Estate Shows, an online company that helps agents create tours of their listings and distribute them online. I get to work from home now (sometimes barefoot from comfy chairs) and since I like what I’m doing, most of the time it feels like play. This job is such a natural for me that when he offered me the job, my boss said, “That stuff you’re already doing? I want to start paying you for it.” DANG, that’s a good job!! I’ve even had a chance to travel a little! This is a picture I took of two of my bosses, Jeff Turner and Bill Leider, taken in Arizona. It’s OK to totally adore your bosses, right? Because I do!

This job has also helped me to meet quite a few of my online friends, and next week I’ll be heading to New York to meet even more of them! This was taken in Baltimore, Maryland for the Virginia Association of Realtors convention. (Don’t ask, just go with the flow.) I’m pictured with Kim Wood, Drew Fristoe and Sarah Stelmok.

In the new year ahead, I want to continue to remember what’s important:

I want to stay grounded:

I want to remember that laughing is more important then we give it credit for:

And that often, the best things in life are absolutely free:

Happy New Year, all! Let’s hope it’s a kind one. And let’s help make it so.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 10:17 am and is filed under Everything Else. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.