Investing in Ourselves

Lat night was the installation party at the Whitby Castle in Rye for the Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors and the WPMLS officers and directors. I was installed as Vice President for North Westchester.

This means that Ann and I had a “date.” Consecutive children and business-free hours of food and dancing. 

It was black tie optional, so I rented a tux and we arranged for a babysitter. My jacket was not ready when I picked the tuxedo up, so it would have to be picked up on the way. Without that jacket, I looked like a waiter. When I walked out with it on, I looked like a waiter with a jacket better. Ann approved. 

We needed one small thing at another store across the street and then we were off. The clerk in the store was not used to a guy in a tux with a lady in a full length evening gown to be sure, and did his best not to stare. It was a slow night, and we just walk in dressed to the nines. I’ll bet that doesn’t happen very often. 

I told him we were spies.   

A few photos:

I had never been to Whitby Castle and it was very elegant. It took an hour just to decompress and get out of work mode. Ann even overlooked the few times I checked my email. The food was good, and the band was better. The rug was cut- we danced quite a bit, and the band mercifully played some slow stuff toward the end. I am in pain this morning  but I don’t care. 

So we got dressed up, ate and danced the night away, and spent a few carefree hours together for the first time in who knows how long. We had fun. With consecutive weeks and months in the pressure cooker of running our own brokerage, 4 small children and oh, I don’t know, a few issues in the industry, it was long overdue, and did us well. We spend much of our time diffusing client stress. You absorb that over the long haul. Things like this rejuvenate. We won’t wait so long next time. To a large degree, we are the product, and we need to keep making these capital investments in our own selves. 

We still clean up pretty well, so why not?