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Have you ever had something so impactful happen that you felt compelled to write it down? Yesterday, I experienced just that. I keep notes of things my children say and thought I would add this to it. Tonight, as I reflected on the week and thought about the week ahead, I wanted to share it with the Rawls Group. The people I care so much for. Together, we have branded “I’ve got your back.” As I watch my boys grow and understand the meaning of it it reminded me of you. Here is my story:

“I got your back”… no really!

 I woke up on Saturday morning grateful for the weekend and the end of what was a pretty bad week. I blamed it on the full moon after reading the night before that it was the brightest, closest and perhaps craziest it has been in 20 years.  We won’t see it this way again until 2029. GOOD!

The week had proven to be tedious. Dave was traveling for work and I was on overtime mommy duty. My work week had also presented me with many challenging opportunities.  It was finally Friday. Just as I sat down to start my day, the coffee mug slipped from my hands shattering on my master bedroom floor and covering both my computer and sitting area couch where I work. Luckily the baby was down stairs and Jacob; my 3.5 year old tried to help me without causing his own mess as little boys so often do. For a moment, I had forgotten about the drama the night before. The previous evening I had been helping a sick neighbor with her three year old son.  What could be more fun after a long day of work than bathing your own three children and just adding one more to the mix? No big deal right? Right… The boys thought it would be a great idea to play soccer with my three rings. Not just any rings, my wedding band, engagement ring and new valentine’s gift ring from my sweet husband. After hours of searching and successfully retrieving two of the three, the wedding band still was missing. 

I cleaned up the coffee and committed to having a great day. I was looking forward to finishing it with a haircut/color and happy to have my hair done by someone other than myself.  I was also looking forward to the time in the salon as I am able to return phone calls and emails that would normally wait until after 8 pm. No sooner did I sit down for my 55 minutes under the dryer did my phone die. Ok, I am resourceful; someone in this place has got to have a charger I thought to myself. Nope. I left the salon at 5:30 to race home to the kids and I raced too much! Bam, right in front of me was a curb and fire hydrant. Yikes!  I hurried on past the off roading experience when about 2 blocks later I heard the loudest scratching and felt the pulling of the car. Darn a flat tire. I managed another few blocks and parked in front of a friend’s house. Luckily he was home and gave me a ride.  I was greeted by Dave, who looked at my hair and said what happened? It was red instead of blonde.

As you can imagine, by the time I woke up on Saturday I was happy to see a new day.  Being such a beautiful one, I thought our family should take a walk. I came upstairs and heard a voice coming from what sounded like the roof. And I was correct. On the roof, stood my husband with a rope tied around him and attached to the column in our master bedroom. Normal, right? There he stood with a broom cleaning the gutters.  At that moment I realized I was on my own for the walk. Now, one child could not possibly stay back with Daddy and all insisted on coming with me. It will be fun, I told myself as I decided which strollers should come on the journey. To my disappointment, I was unable to pull the double jogger of the hanging rack in the garage while holding a baby and watching a 2.5 and 3.5 year old wrestle one another to the floor. So, we decided on the single jogger and the Mcclaren, a simple folding stroller for one.  Jacob would push Andrew and I would push Sarah and we would stay on the sidewalk. What could possibly go wrong? We made it about half way down the neighborhood before I realized this might not be a good idea. Luckily, we were invited inside to play for a while and I resorted to the fact it just might not be a walking day. Fine, we’d head back up the street and play outside and still enjoy the day. We played with the neighbors for a while and it was time to do just that. Head back up the street. Only this time, Andrew the 2.5 year old, wanted to push Jacob the 3.5 year old in the stroller. Not in the mood to play defense I agreed. We would all stay together on the sidewalk and I would hold both strollers. That would be easy enough. The boys headed on past me and before I could even stay stop, the stroller wheels turned down the street instead of back up. It all started happening so fast and I had to make choices no mother would ever want to make. Instinctually, I tried to push my stroller with Sarah to a stopping point and run down the hill after the boys. No luck as the street was too steep to hold mine in place. I could let go of hers to run after the boys, but I couldn’t do it, she is just a baby I thought. The boys picked up speed heading straight for North Stratford a busy cut through street. I watched two cars pass by.  Andrew held on to his brother’s stroller for dear life. I watched this precious little boy being pulled down a hill holding on with no intention of letting go.  I screamed the words help and stop two times each as loud as I could. There were now two choices. Yell for Andrew to let go of Jacob and the stroller and hope it would cross the street without facing a car or have faith that Andrew could save his brother and stop the stroller and risk them both being hit. I chose the latter. How could I ask a brother to let go of everything he looks up to? I had to believe that this little boy, so filled with love in heart, could stop the out of control stroller that held my first born.   I took a deep breath and yelled, “Hold on Andrew, turn the stroller, turn the stroller.” At the same time Jacob also guided his brother. “To the driveway” Jacob pointed. Andrew’s little feet moved so fast as he pulled back with all of his might on the stroller to slow it down, all while turning it at the direction of his brother. Andrew turned the stroller and it landed sideways…on the driveway, the last driveway before the street.  For a brief moment, I stood in silence, shocked at how much could happen in such a short amount of time. I ran to the boys and hugged them. Jacob was freaking out and Andrew just stared, pale as a ghost and then smiled with a look of peace on his face. As we made our way back up the hill, this time with neither in the stroller, I thanked God over and over again.

Dave and I refer to our family as Team Moran. We frequently talk to the boys about looking out for one another and what it means to say “I’ve got your back.” We sat down for lunch and I explained to them how proud of the teamwork they displayed and praised Andrew for never letting go of his brother. I held Andrew’s sweet face and said “You did great Andrew, did you have help?” He said, yes mama, God helped me.” You would think that a mother would be surprised to hear those words from a two year old boy, but I was not.  There is no doubt that our little miracle boy had help and he knew it too.  

So, “I got your back” took on a new meaning for me today. Not only did I see it in action in a way I could not have dreamed about, I witnessed the true great love of GOD, who really did have our back.

Today was a good day. It was a really good day.

Happy June to our awesome team! I can’t believe that summer is already here and kids are out of school. Time seems to be just flying by and I am just 13 weeks away for our third baby being born. We are also selling our home and moving in the process and wow what an experience that has been. I encourage every Realtor to be in the position of a buyer or seller every so often as we forget just how challenging and interesting it can be. As stressful as it is at times to be a seller with two little ones, I am extremely grateful to have this perspective!

This week, I had the opportunity to take a course called “Fierce Conversations.” That title might bring to mind a destructive warrior or an angry lion at first. In fact, I believe my husband’s words in response to my alerting him of my endeavor was “uh oh.” Really, the definition of this class is:  A fierce conversation is one in which we come out from behind ourselves into the conversation and make it real.” Pretty cool.

The two days were based on the study that, “Our careers, our companies, our personal relationships and our very lives, succeed or fail gradually, then suddenly, one conversation at a time.” Pretty powerful if you think about it. Consider for a second, how many times you’ve passed on a conversation because you “don’t like confrontation” or “it isn’t worth my time” or “it could open up a can of worms” (all cows by the way). Well, if you follow the principles of Fierce, you’ll understand that not every conversation can change your life, but any conversation could. To put in to perspective just how relevant a conversation is, take a look at the ones you have.  The conversation IS the relationship.

There are seven principles we learned before diving in to conversation on a team, coaching and confrontation scenarios and I will leave you with them and encourage you to read the book and more importantly take this class.

1. Master the courage to interrogate reality. 2. Come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real. 3. Be here, prepared to be nowhere else. 4. Tackle your toughest challenge today. 5. Obey your instincts. 6. Take responsibility for your emotional wake. 7. Let silence do the heavy lifting.

If you would like to hear more about this class, I’d love to chat with you about it. Send me an email or call anytime jerim@kw.com.

Proud of you!

Jeri Moran

One down, three to go -

The first quarter timer has run out and we now have one more before half time. Evaluate; are you playing to win or just to stay in the game? At this point, in my opinion, this is now a focus and mindset game. Evaluate, who are you surrounding yourself with and can they motivate and educate you to get you where you need to go. Remember, John Maxwell says, “You are a combination of the five people you spend the most time with.” Who are they?

Focus: At Family Reunion, top agent Chris Heller reminded us of what we already know but so many of us don’t do. Chris said the key to his success is that every day he time time blocks and lead generates, period. Most likely, if you say you don’t have time for _______, it isn’t so. What that means is you just haven’t made that task priority, yet. Why is it that we all have 24 hours in a day yet some can accomplish so much more? Focus.

Why do you get up every day and do real estate? Is it your family, the home you want to build, the travel you want to do one day? I encourage you to determine what that is and focus on it. Think about this word, FREEDOM. What does that mean to you? Focus on just that every day and then time block and lead generate. It won’t seem so bad to do the things that you procrastinate when you have a larger purpose to focus on.

One of the greatest things about real estate is that it is an equal opportunity career, though it has unequal results. We are not judged based on our intelligence, education, behavior but only on our results. One of the things I have to remind myself on a weekly basis is that it is unfair to judge or criticize who and where I am, based on what I believe others have accomplished or who I think they are. The only thing we can be sure of, is what we know about our own insides and how we think and feel. I believe if you assess that and what it means to be the best version of yourself then true success and happiness will follow. Please go on this journey with me. Though it isn’t always easy, it is truly rewarding. Just think of the impact you could have on others if you only focused on improving your own insides and didn’t worry on others outsides.

So, I challenge you to wake up every day and say your positive affirmations.. And yes, I mean it! Just try it. Trust me. I got your back!

Remember, Q: “How’s the market?” A: “Why do you ask?”