THANK YOU!

I heard Christmas music in the grocery store today.  It is hard to believe its November, 2014.  

This marks my 17^th year in the valley escrow industry. 

Wow, for a kid who moved 18 times before she graduated from high school, and went to 3 different 1^st grades, I’ve been here a long time.

November 20^th is special for our staff. It is our 8^th Annual Thanksgiving Lunch and we get to thank you for belonging to our office family.  

You’ll find a traditional Texas Thanksgiving, something my Mom would have enjoyed serving.  Cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, and turkey; Mother taught me no one should go away hungry.

We’re not entitled to be in business. We know you have choices.  We are grateful that you believe in us, we believe in you!

2013-2014 saw major changes.  We added Park Plaza, remodeled Stapley and our staff size has grown. 

Lately I was reminded in a small way just how much my personal cheese work has moved. 

I am an introvert and really do enjoy sitting behind an escrow desk.  There is a great reward in being able to answer the phone, listen to the question, answer it, sign the customer, send the file back to the lender for funding, release the file, and call the Realtor when the recording is complete.  At least for me there is. 

Interesting as that is, it is not where I am needed right now.  I’ve learned I must let go of control and allow others to grow in their job. The team is smart, capable, and believes in each other. (It’s kind of like when you drop the first child off at college, while driving home and realize he can do this!)

So, here’s the story: An Escrow Officer was out sick.  She feared coming back to work. Unknown to her, the team members simply stepped in and completed all her needed file work. There were notes and documents in her files so she was caught up.  No big deal, they simply did what they needed to do. She was elated and emailed them to say “thanks”.

Here’s the response back to her: “Hey, Carolyn says, this is what we do (our job) and not who we are (our humanity)”.  However in this case, “This IS who we are!!!”  The team is one collective whole.  No big fan fare!  No need to make a big deal, they simply and collectively did what was needed to serve a teammate. 

Kind of like Superman - able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. 

Yes we work hard; it is a part of our culture.  There are systems, and we are trained and cross trained. We study, read, CANI, and work SMART.However, without you (our friends), everything we do would be in vain.  We’re not entitled to stay open.  We know that.  So this time of the year we stop and simply thank you.

John F. Kennedy once said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them”. 

Please stop by the office on November 20^th between 11 and 1 for lunch on us.  We belong to you and you belong to us!