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Lake Martin Real Estate Agent and Website Manager Connect through the Daffodil Spirit
Guest blogpost by Tina Tidmore, website manager for Paige Patterson - PERFORMANCE!
Right brain versus left brain, Yin and Yang, doers and thinkers: As we grow into adulthood, we learn that not everyone thinks the same as we do or place priority on the same things. Some married couples learn the truism that opposites attract. As we go into the professional world, we may have the opportunity to take those personality/leadership tests that reveal how we think and how others think differently. All of this is wonderful in our colorful world of tremendous variety, but when “opposites” work together toward the same goal, misunderstandings from different communication styles and frustration can develop. This has been the way for me and Paige. Our commitment to working with each other to successfully market her real estate services has been tested more than once. But we’ve used respect, patience, hope, understanding, and appreciation for the strengths of each other to come back and try again. We also found that we quickly clear up misunderstandings when we can talk about an issue instead of typing in texting or emailing. In October of last year, Paige and I had an in-person planning meeting. We had decided the month before to try again to work together with some adjustments. But I still felt Paige and I were just on the far ends of the spectrum, different planes, with very little in common personally; she was one way and I was another, until . . . As we were planning the blogpost topics for the future, Paige said she wanted a blogpost on daffodils in February. I gave her a quizzical look. What in the world is the reason for a Lake Martin real estate agent wanting to have a piece about daffodils on her website? (I wondered this in my head, then I asked the question in a more polite way.) She said that she liked that the daffodil because it is the first flower to come up for the spring. It’s her favorite flower. I couldn’t believe it. I looked more deeply into her eyes, and she must have wondered why a look of shock came over my face. The daffodil is my favorite flower, also! I love the spirit of the daffodil. It is so determined. I have daffodils lining my sidewalk to my front door. They start showing up in January. I’ve actually seen them survive snow. The daffodil actually pulls in the life and beauty of spring, against any hardship brought on it. Like the daffodil, Paige and I both, and many other women, we have both beauty and strength. I found a connection, even to my soul, with someone so different from me. We touched each other’s hands as we made this discovery that finally we found something deeply personal that we share. According to Teleflora, the daffodil symbolizes rebirth and new beginnings, which is certainly appropriate for Paige and me as we have had to reboot from time to time. It also says that in Wales, seeing the first daffodil of the season means your next 12 months will be filled with wealth. Well, both Paige and I do want our working together to be financially beneficial to both of us. Wealth? I don’t seek it, but I won’t refuse it.
So while the daffodil has had meaning for me for many years, it now has another meaning. When I see it break through the crusty soil in January and bloom in February, I will be reminded that despite how different I feel someone is from me, if I keep looking and trying, with that determined daffodil spirit, I can find a connection, something we both value and appreciate.
