Happy Sunday Everyone-
A while back, Kim and the boys coined the month of August, “Hugust”. It’s my birthday month and I’m one for celebrating, so why make it about a day when you can extend to an entire month? I mean enough about you, let’s talk about me! My great friend, coach, and Realtor extraordinaire (25-50 closings/month), Dayton Schrader, has never forgotten hugust. I came back into the office this past week with a few pieces of mail to open, 3 from Dayton. The first was a card wishing me a happy birthday/month. The second was a picture of my dad’s ship from Vietnam (USS Duluth), the third was a navy gold coin w/ USS Duluth on it along with an original gold zippo lighter with “US Duluth” (pictures attached). Most folks reading this know my dad was my hero/best friend, and we lost him unexpectedly on 12/21/22. After my dads service I posted his eulogy as a Sunday thoughts (http://sundaythoughts.com/eulogy/), Dayton clearly read it and understood the Navy/Vietnam was an important piece of my dad’s legacy. Sitting in my office this past Thursday, opening these items, especially the lighter, took my breath away. I sat there in silence with tears streaming down my face. Three thoughts coming over me, sadness for missing my dad, humbled and honored to be on the receiving end of such an amazing showing of love and care in the form of a gift.
Why am I writing about this? Selfishly I want to brag about someone delivering me the coolest gifts of all time. More importantly, I want to learn from Dayton and hopefully have him rub off on all of us. How does someone deliver on this kind of an impactful gift? I’m smiling having titled last week’s ST’s “Human Connection”, it’s all related. You have to be committed to know about someone else to understand what matters to them. You have to observe, you have to listen, hear, and see. You have to care. It’s the best selfish of all time. My guess is Dayton enjoyed giving these gifts to me as much as I did receiving them. He didn’t make my day, he made my year, he made my whole family’s year. My mom was beside herself; Jack drove the gifts around to show his friends families. A lighter used by a sailor on the same ship, the same one my dad had, who does that?
I’m going back to the best kind of selfish. If we could all spend time figuring out how to gift so good that it makes someone’s year, the ripple effect that comes from it would be amazing. I’m literally sitting here thinking of who could be on my list and what would I gift them? My head immediately shifts to what is important to those individuals and do I know enough about them to understand. Understanding what is important to someone else immediately takes my thoughts away from me and on to them. Dayton is on to something with this. I’m going to pay it forward. Givers gain! Thank you, Dayton!!
