Confessions of a Recovering Landlord

I wanted to let you know about a great opportunity.  A golf tournament fund raiser on Tuesday, April 28 will benefit a great non-profit organization called My Possibilities.  This non-profit helps adults with serious disabilities (Autism, Down Syndrome, Aspergers, Prader-Willi, Head Injuries) develop life skills and become more independent after they graduate high school and have nowhere else to go.  When these people reach the age of 21, they must leave the school system.  Too often they end up in front of a TV all day.  My Possibilities provides a constructive alternative.  And yhey are a client of mine.

We really need golfers so if you can, come out, have some fun and play.  The tournament is at the Westin Stonebriar Resort in Frisco and I hear it's a great course. It's $170 to play and it's tax deductible!  I understand that it's normally $122 to get on this course and that doesn't include lunch, drinks, or tax deductibility.  Bring a guest or just send a client.

To sign up to play, just go to http://www.mypossibilities.org/ and you can pay with a credit card.

Thanks so much and let me know if you have any questions.

Why should I be thankful? 

I just lost 40% or more of my 401k and have no prospects of retiring before my kids reach retirement age.  I really don't want to open the envelope when the statement comes in the mail at the end of this month.

I'd like to replace some of the furniture in my house and the carpet needs to be replaced as well.  But last year I made less money than I'd like to admit so replacements will have to wait. 

And I'm supposed to be thankful?

But then I have been pretty busy lately.  It's even looking like 2008 may be my best year since I started Reata.  I wish I didn't have to work so hard though.  When I was in the corporate world I didn't have to put in as many hours as in my own business. 

But I sure don't miss being on an airplane every couple of weeks and missing my kids' games and activities.  Now I get to sleep at home every night and don't even have to fight traffic since my office is only three miles from the house.  Getting laid off means you lose all your income, but now if a deal dies I only lose a little income.  Maybe there's more security by working for myself after all.

It sure makes for a better home life.  My business life and social life are starting to get blurred and I can't tell where one stops and the other starts.  With Jan being in business again, we get to go to lots of business events together.  A couple of weeks ago I got to sit and hold her hand while listening to Beatlegras at a benefit concert for Crossroads Family Services.  Crossroads is a non-profit client and also our daughter's employer. 

As we walked back to our car we discovered a place called Cadillac Pizza on the square in McKinney with a live blues band.  I love the blues.  We wanted to take our kids to hear some blues in Chicago while we were on vacation last summer, but Blue Chicago no long has the family friendly basement blues.  Thursdays are open blues jam nights and you just might see an 11-year-old boy on the drums.

And then there's Toots who is more excited when I get home than I can believe anyone could be.  She is our 5-pound Pointer mix SPCA surprise that turned into a 50-pound Pit Bull/Pointer mix.  I wouldn't trade her for any other dog now, of course.  Our morning runs wear me out, but are apparently just a warm-up for her because she brings the tennis ball to play as soon as we walk in the door.

Now that I think about it, I've got so much to be thankful and so many people that care about me.  And I haven't even mentioned that my parents and my in-laws are all still living and married to each other, that I have plenty of food to eat, that I have a home to go to every day, and that I was wanted so badly that someone was willing to die to be sure I could spend eternity with Him.

Happy Thanksgiving.  I bet yours will be as good as mine...if you just think about it for a minute.