Living Outside a Post Card

“I walked out the back door to see my husband sitting on the porch bench asleep, with his boot in hand.  He was so tired that he had fallen asleep while putting his boots on.” – Nancy Long

Living Outside a Post Card

I could feel the slight vibration of my car’s steering wheel in my hand as I drove west on Utah Highway 199 though Rush Valley.  It was approaching dusk and the light was perfect!  I think it’s what a photographer would call the golden hour.  Farmsteads were on my left and right.  The Stansbury Mountains and Johnson Pass, also known as Fisher Pass, were straight ahead.  It looked just like a post card!

The pass I was about to enter is named for Carl Fisher, who grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Carl quit school when he was twelve years old!  His first job, out of school, was in a grocery store.  That’s when he discovered he was an entrepreneur.  After a few short years in the grocery business, he opened a bicycle shop and then a car dealership.  In 1904, he began the Prest-O-Light company and by 1913 he sold Prest-O-Light for Nine Million Dollars.  While owning Prest-O-Light he imagined the idea of building an automobile testing ground and race track.  And, in Augusts of 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held its first race.  But, accidents and the deaths of six people, in this first race, caused the race to be cancelled.  The crushed stone and tar track pavement was determined to be too dangerous for racing.  And undaunted, Mr. Fisher paved the track with 3.2 million bricks, so the first five-hundred-mile race, called the International Sweepstakes, took place on the thirtieth of May, 1911, thereafter.  This annual event has been known as the Indianapolis 500 ever since.  But, it is his next venture, the building of the first transcontinental highway, the Lincoln Highway, I was thinking about on my drive through and over Fisher Pass.  While the beautiful drive allowed me to marvel, I knew that life here was much more than the simple post card offered to me now.

Not too many months prior to this drive I was sitting with Nancy Long in her cozy ranch house near the mouth of Fisher Pass.  She was telling me stories and of how she had been tirelessly working to preserve another history of the area, its ranching history.

“I walked out the back door to see my husband sitting on the porch bench asleep, with his boot in hand.  He was so tired that he had fallen asleep while putting his boots on!”  Nancy said to me as she described how hard they had worked on their ranch in their younger years.

Her words, remembered by me now, seemed to create a direct connection between me, Carl Fisher and the ranchers who had literally paved the road, I was currently enjoying, with their blood, sweat, tears and dreams.

“They all lived life outside of this post card!”  I said out loud to them and the canyon, as I started down the west side of the pass, toward Terra, though I was the only one who could hear the verbalized sentiment, as I drove forward.

I could feel the slight vibration of our history as I continued west down Utah Highway 199.  It was approaching dusk and the light was perfect!  I think it’s what a photographer would call golden light.  The Farmsteads were now behind me.  The Stansbury Mountains and Johnson Pass, also known as Fisher Pass, were about to be in my rearview mirror as well.  It had all looked just like a post card!

Yet, I knew that life here offered much more than the attractive photograph just presented to me.  This very land embodies priceless, individual hopes and dreams, toil and triumph, and even defeat.

You see, Carl Fisher was completely bankrupt by 1932.  Caused, as one of his greatest business ventures, the development of Miami Beach, was defeated by nature itself.  And, this tireless and resourceful businessman died seven years later.  I reverenced him, through memory, as I crested his namesake mountain pass, and the fading rays of the sun illuminated my way and mind, while delivering an important message.

Living life outside, beyond, a post card view allows a person to understand the true majesty of life through shared experience.  When you and I take the time to build deep relationships with others so we can share their individual stories, triumphs and challenges, our lives will never be bankrupt!

Tattle-Tell

“When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.” ― Maya Angelou

Tattle-Tell

I was waiting for outside weather to bluster up inside the room at any moment.  There was plenty of reason for the tension all around to turn into lightning.  I could feel the blood pressure of everyone ushering in a “low pressure system” that would be just like a violent storm moving in from the north.  That is, right up until the time I looked just to my left, a little bit, across the table.  That one look caused the forecasted “system” to stall.  “Good Hearted” immediately came to mind, with that gaze, as I my eyes fell upon Margo Huddleston.

You and I have heard, “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business” as we’ve gone about our business.  With Margo, that’s never the case.  With Margo, it’s always personal. And, I mean that in the most personable way!  And, I shouldn’t be surprised in any way.

Margo and Laron Huddleston spend months of time every year volunteering to help other people.  They do in our valley and beyond our little valley in Texas as well, just so they can help others change their lives, one-on-one, face-to-face.

My eyes hesitated, just for one additional moment.  I knew the subject we were discussing was very important to Margo.  After all, she flew back to town from Texas, just to have the meeting.  Yet, peace radiated, like the sun, from her, so I cracked a smile.

“MarVanGogh” I said to myself. 

MarVanGogh is my nickname for her because she is a unique masterpiece!  And, at that moment, I was reminded of a quote from Anthony de Mello.

Said he, “To a disciple who was forever complaining about others, the Master said, ‘If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.’”

Now, you might think me to be a tattletale by telling you about MarVanGogh and how she is quietly making slippers for as many people as possible!  Virtually everyone knows that a Tattletale is someone who tells secrets about what someone else has done.  You know the type. 

No!  Once again, she’s given life an artful twist.  I call it “MarVanGogh’s art of becoming a Tattle-Tell.”

Maya Angelou once said, “When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.”

I was waiting for outside weather to bluster up inside the room at any moment.  There was plenty of reason for the tension all around to turn into lightning.  I could feel the blood pressure of everyone, ushering in a “low pressure system” that would be just like a violent storm moving in from the north.  That is, right up until the time I looked just to my left, a little bit, across the table.  That one look caused the forecasted “system” to stall.  “Good Hearted” immediately came to mind, with that gaze, as I my eyes fell upon MarVanGogh.

We should all be such Tattle-Tells!  Margo encourages all of us, through her behavior, to live so when others see our actions, “Good Heated” is exactly who they believe we are, the first time, and every time.

Looking Beyond our Rear-View Mirror

“It’s like trying to drive forward while only looking in the rear-view mirror! “

Looking Beyond our Rear-View Mirror

“It’s like trying to drive forward while only looking in the rear-view mirror! “

I have said those words, same verbiage, same sequence, same meaning, hundreds of times when I speak with client’s who I’m helping to establish a market value for their home or property.  Yet, on this particular day, a day of confirmation, a day when information I had already known deep within my core, was validated, they had a whole new meaning.

It’s easy to move into the unknown future relying wholly on our past experience.  But, my market value determination familiarity has steered me to take additional factors in to account.  I know, for example, that a market is always shifting.  It is never static. 

“The market is like the ocean.”  I explain to clients.  “If you’ve ever been on the ocean, the first thing you’ll notice is that it moves in great swells.  It’s always rolling up and down.  It rarely sits still.  What’s in the past can guide you as how a market can shift, but it doesn’t completely show you what the future holds.  It doesn’t even tell you the position of the market at this particular time.  You need to take additional information into account so you can catch a glimpse of the current market and where its future is trending.”

Now, I was reading the validating information, printed on the page in front of me again, with my mind firmly focused on past performance.  It was causing fear to well up in my heart.  The pain was almost unbearable, right up until the concepts of how to understand market value and how markets are always changing pierced my heart.  That’s the point at which I knew I needed to begin to apply the same principles to personal relationships, especially the one I was struggling with at this very moment.

Yes.  A person’s future can be extrapolated, in part, from past actions and decisions.  And no, that isn’t a whole, descriptive picture about any individual.  A person’s life is like the ocean.  As you live, the first thing you’ll notice is that life moves in great swells.  It’s always rolling up and down.  Living rarely sits still.  In fact, I noticed, when I lived on an island in the Caribbean Sea, that when the ocean was eerily still, it meant that a huge change was coming.  A hurricane or tsunami was soon to arrive with fierce winds and water movement, winds and or water that would morph water into destructive mountains and exploit all weakness.  What’s in your past, as well as the past of others, can guide you as to how one’s life may continue, but it doesn’t completely show you what one’s future holds.  It doesn’t even tell you the exact position in which a person is living today, at this particular time.  You need to take additional information into account for that.  Doing so will allow you and me to catch a glimpse of what life may be like, for us, and for others, our loved ones, and even strangers.  Being able to consider additional factors, such as personal effort, development of professional and interpersonal skills and loving influence must also be considered.  To do so is a skill and ability that will pay enormous dividends to everyone.

“It’s like trying to drive forward while only looking in the rear-view mirror!“  Were the familiar words piercing my heart as I continued to read.

I have said those words, same verbiage, same sequence, same meaning, hundreds of times when I speak with client’s who I help establish a market value for their home or property.  Yet, on this particular day, a day of confirmation, a day when information I had already known deep within my core, was validated, they had a whole new meaning.

They meant that I could lessen the overwhelming fear welling up in my heart.  They mean that if you and I will consider additional factors, beyond what we see in our rear-view mirrors, with regard to our personal relationships, we can help usher everyone toward a brighter future.