What’s at the Top of Your List?
I thought September would be slow. We're in the middle of a tax cycle, so both property tax work and infrastructure work should be tapering off. I was genuinely worried about how much appraisal work I'd have this fall. So far, so good - we have plenty to do. I hope you do too.
The economy is a funny thing for appraisers. Feast or famine, they say. But what we really mean is that we don't get a say. I can't control how much work walks in the door this fall. What I can control is the order of my priority list, and lately that's the only lever I've got.
On the personal front, it feels even busier. My 93-year-old mother wants attention. She wants to know why she's at the bottom of my priority list. I felt guilty about that for a while, and then I looked at why she's there: she's healthy, and she's well taken care of at her assisted living. If there's a medical crisis, or anything else she needs me for, she'll rise to the top immediately. She's on the list. She's just not near the top.
When she had a stroke two years ago, she was at the top of the list, and I saw her every day, sacrificing my yoga practice to fit in hospital visits. That's what the top of the list looks like. I'd rather she stay where she is.
Because being at the top of someone's priority list is rarely a good story. It usually means something has gone wrong. I wouldn't want to be at the top of the list for my adult kids, either.
The list itself is not the problem. The guilt about the order was.
So, here's the order, as it currently stands: my workout, work (three businesses now!), kids (grandbaby on the way, shower to plan), husband, friends, mother. The workout is first not because it matters most, but because everything under it depends on it. I've added Pilates and Gyrotonic - does anyone else know what Gyrotonic is? Look it up. It's wonderful and pricy, but I’ve decided my aging body is worth it. I've been to 100 classes since late March!
Summer flew by. September is the respite, the month to catch up. October has so much travel: a retreat, then a baby shower for my daughter in North Carolina, which happily coincides with our AI Region V meeting in Raleigh. I'll cap off the month in Puerto Rico with some of the most fun women appraisers I know. My dream of talking shop on the beach, realized. Migdalia and Keila have been such gracious hosts that I'm already hoping they'll have us back.