The best thing about my day job…

The best thing about my day job is the people I work for and the people I work with.

The job suits me. I left teaching and counseling to become a real estate agent. I found that I could help people understand a body of information (teaching) and make a good decision that enhanced their lives (counseling). Since 2008, I have run my own company, teaching agents how to make a living in real estate (teaching) and helping them be consistent with their values and maintaining work-life balance (counseling).

It has been a loss to me that I no longer do house hunting with our clients. I had a full-time job supervising the agents and keeping the business running. I miss house hunting; but I could no longer house hunt all weekend and supervise and keep the business running. I had to model work-life balance and give up working directly with clients. It’s getting to be a long time now. I stopped working with house hunters at the end of 2015.

I feel regret when I am reminded of how much pleasure it gave me to see the success of my house hunting clients. Both the success of buying the right house, but also the success of living a good life in the house. When one of my clients does something great, I wonder who I missed getting to know by choosing supervision over direct service.

A new author I met on the job

This October, a former client of mine published a book. Here’s what Goodreads says about it:

For Leslie Absher, secrecy is just another member of the family. Throughout childhood, her father’s shadowy government job was ill-defined, her mother’s mental health stayed off limits–even her queer identity remained hidden from her family and unacknowledged by Leslie herself.

In Spy Daughter, Queer Girl, Absher pursues the truth: of her family, her identity, and her father’s role in Greece’s CIA-backed junta. As a guide, Absher brings readers to the shade of plane trees in Greece, to queer discos in Boston, and to tense diner meals with her aging CIA father. As a memoirist, Absher renders a lifetime of hazy, shapeshifting truths in high-definition vibrance.

Infused with a journalist’s tenacity and a daughter’s open heart, this book recounts a decades’ long process of discovery and the reason why the facts should matter to us all.

I finished reading the book in January. Here’s what I said about it on Goodreads:

Some books need to be written. This is one of them. It shows the author’s need to know the story, her journey to tell it, as well as the history of her father’s career in the CIA. What does the relocation, the secrecy, and the deep dedication to Cold War values do to a family? Is what America does the same as what an America CIA officer does?

On top of CIA secrets is a coming out story. Father = Conservative. Texas. The author, a young lesbian finds her way to love her father — who he is and where he is. And the extent to which he loves her back — who she is and where she is.

I am so pleased with the success of this book. It is well written and important.

I was an unwitting witness to the formation of the process that began this book. There is a chapter titled for the house she bought with my assistance. I remember her painting a wall there to remind her of Greece; her love of Greece is part of the subject of the book. I still have the necklace she brought back from one her trips to Greece. At the time, I did not know the depth of what she was working out. Now I do.

Thank you, Leslie Absher. It was an honor to help you find your home.