My Place.

The beauty of this place would only be diminished by the words that I may try to use to describe; therefore, I will hold my tongue and pen and let all my senses be overwhelmed since that is the only true way to understand. This place always reminds me of life’s lesson that the simplest things in life are the most important. The wind in my face, the breath in my lungs, the joy in my step, the innocent laughter of my daughters can overwhelm me and make my body weep. I pray that I will be able to live this emotion everyday but alas this has proven to be elusive, hence I will continue to visit this place as often as possible until this lesson is learned.

Written: December 5th 2009

Joey Remondino

Change.

I was standing outside of Regis in Fair Oaks Mall today and Angelina was sleeping soundly in the duel Graco stroller, the Cadillac of strollers. I could not hold it back, I let loose a few tears that rolled down my face. I wiped them with my hand shortly after they hit my cheek. The funny thing is at the surface it seemed silly but in my heart it was profound.

Sofia, you got your first full hair cut today.No matter how hard I fight it, there is no way I can stop or even slow down the fact that you are growing so fast. It was not long ago you where the one sleeping in the stroller, and I couldn't wait till you could walk and talk. You were sitting in the chair, so big, with your mother telling the stylist what to do with your hair. You grinned your little grin but you were not totally sure how to react. I am so proud of you and always will be.

Change is inevitable, we do not grow and become better people without change. Sometimes the harder the change the more profound of an impact it has on our life. The only people who like change are wet babies, everyone else will try to fight it. You must do the best you can to embrace it. You will not always succeed but you will gain immensely if you continue to try.

How Much Does Your Integrity Cost?

This is a post that I wrote and put on one of my real estate blogs. It gives you both an idea of the imprtance of integrity to me and the fact that you need to live it and not just talk it.

Whether you love them or hate them they are here to stay, Reality TV. I think they started a long time ago with MTV's Real World but have exploded across the networks like a bad rash. The shows I am mainly talking about are the realty shows with a prize at the end for the winner. The most famous of all is Survivor but also includes Big Brother, The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, and others across the cable channels.

The underlying theme to these seems to me to be how much will it cost to sacrifice integrity? What would you do, say, or be for 1 million dollars? The funny thing is the contestants that lie, cheat, and steal tend to be the most popular and bring in the highest ratings.

What does this say about us as a collective?

I will be the first to admit I am addicted to Survivor, so much in fact that I have applied for the show on several occasions. My reasons and intentions are based off the fact there have been a few winners who have won with integrity and not by sacrificing their moral character. I think it is amazing to watch peoples thought process and decision making in the pursuit of money and fame.

With all this being said my point is, it is not ok to sacrifice integrity or good moral character for money. Too often I here people say, "it's just business", or in the context of the shows above, "it's just a game". Like many of you I have seen ethics get forgotten for the goal of earning a real estate commission. Those of you who get paid this way, well you didn't "earn" anything you stole it from your buyer or seller.

Wake up call people, it's not just business or a game, it is called LIFE and it is too short. We as individuals will be remembered for who we are and our moral fiber. How many people have you helped today with no expectations of anything in return?

Share your integrity with those around you and work to improve the soundness of your character everyday. This is what you can pass the next generation and I promises you will be remembered for it.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world" Mahatma Gandhi

The Importance of Focus

I will start by telling you a little bit about your great grand father, I and everyone else call him by his first name Dock. He is one of the most healthy men I have meet in my life at his age but if you ask him, that is not what he would say. He seems to always be sick with something whether it is a simple cold or he thinks he has cancer or dyticulitus. Whenever someone he knows gets sick or pass' away he thinks he has the same symptoms. I would bet if i told him the symptoms to a rare disease he would have it in the matter of a month. I am not making light of this because it has become very excessive as of late. He has convinced himself because of some aches and pains that there is something seriously wrong with him.

In the past year he has been to three different hospitals to have tests run on every part of his body. The doctors at every one of these facility's have told him has excellent health and there is nothing wrong. The funny thing is this makes him better for a month then he will be sick with something again. He is also sicker during the winter months then he is in the warmer months.

Why is this you ask. This is because he sits in the house and does nothing during the cold months. The one thing he does do is sit and focus on little aches and pains and draws conclusions that he is very sick. He has become so bad with this he does make himself sick but not with what he thinks he has. This has been occurring for years but has gotten more consistent and dramatic over the past years. I always pray that there is nothing wrong because one day he will be right and something will be wrong and because of this we need to continuously take him to the doctors office.

This is an example of when focus can be very wrong and end up making things worse then the are or even when things are no existent.

A good example of focus is when you take the good things in life and think on those things. I can guarantee you other goods things will happen to you when you focus on the good in life.

This is true because when you focus on the good things in life you subconsciously look for other good things in life. Like the story above if you focus on the bad things your subconscious will recognize the other bad things in life.

I have a bit of my grandfather in me, I am very good at focusing in on one project, job, or issue which can be good or bad. This only depends on me and what I focus on. I have to focus on the good things in life like the glass being half full.

This is useful to my clients in business because I can focus on them and their real estate needs and making their dreams come true.

You will both have this talent of focus, but please make sure it is directed to the beauty of life. I promise you will be happy as long as you do this.

Find Time for Yourself.

Happy New Year girls. It was a wonderful Christmas, this is the first year Sofia really knew what it was all about. One of the presents Santa brought you was a little play kitchen and you only wanted to play with that. I think you were tiered of opening presents and just wanted to cook tomato's and chocolate for your sister. Angelina, you were still too young to know exactly what was going on but you did have fun with the flower toy that played music.

I want to make sure you girls always find time for your self and re energize your soul. The holiday season can be a very busy time of year but you need to always stop and remember what it is all about. I always need to step away from everything with just my thoughts from time to time. This helps me focus on what is important to me and helps me be the better person i want to become. I found this link that has some great quotes and pictures along with music that soothed my soul today. I hope this link still works when you finally can read my posts.

A Gift

Girls, a "Gift" is something that you give, whether its money, food, toys, time, a helping hand, advice, a little patience or just a kind word, with no expectation of anything in return.

Chicken Baby Food.

Angelina, I was just feeding you dinner and decided to let you try chicken and chicken broth baby food. You have not been eating baby food very long but what you have had so far you have enjoyed. Today that ended when I gave you a big spoon full of chicken baby food. Wow, the face you gave me was so retched it almost made me sick just looking at your reaction. You quickly spit out the food and began to cough and your face turned red. I will admit I did taste a little bit of it and it was prety nasty, the food was pureed chicken.

I do admire you and your sister at this age because you both are not afraid to try just about any thing. This is the major reason I have to keep a close eye on you so you don't hurt yourselves. I do hope you keep this kind of attitude into adulthood, while being safe too. It is easy to not want to try new things because you think you know what it will be like or just plain scared. Try new things as often as possible it will help you get the most out of life, and many times its fun. I do want to make sure you stay safe so don't try something that will get you hurt.