Don’t have to shine to be gold

A song lyric that hits so hard, "Don’t have to shine to be gold." Kelsea Ballerini - What I Have

Wow, what a line, right? So often we strive to be gold, but only the shiny variety, polished and manipulated by humans. It's kind of like eating dinner alone. It's a very normal activity yet someone else told us to be a certain way, or shine, when I'm reality, we are already gold.

My team and I have been working hard at work with the real estate market activity picking back up, and then even more hours early morning and LATE evenings getting The Bookcliff House ready for sale.

Life has changed so much since Oct 10th, 2022 when I first walked into the Main St House. Originally, Main St was going to be a reset of a prior relationship. A fresh start, a redo. Then the cabin situation happened. Being called a faggot in 2023 was...surprising but I guess it shouldn't be. My slice of heaven, safe place and retreat was instantly changed to a threating and unsafe spot, and I quickly decided to sell the cabin.

That launched several changes in life and relationships. Time to rip the bandaid off and start to heal wounds that were deep and raw. All of that is a reflection of me, not others. Frankly, I am not the best at processing emotions, generally a very forgiving person, but it's hard for me to do the "forget" part. I guess that's a conversation for therapy. Should we forgive AND forget, or do we need to remember to learn, change and not repeat the past...

Anyways, I was originally planning on renting out The Bookcliff House. It has an amazingly low interest rate and would cash flow well, but at the end of the day I decided for me, it was too much risk of damage, vacancy at the amount I wanted to charge for rent, and too many memories. Time to pack those up in a box like I have done so often in the past. Maybe they'll resurface again..and maybe not.

The Main St House is coming along so well. As Nate + Karina, friends and builders said, this is when the fun begins. Putting her back together. I can see the original vision coming to life. A recent conversation with Alyssa, listing agent of the Main St House after she commented that there have been so many big changes with the remodel, it's like I always saw it. I never saw the peeling wallpaper, cracked windows and uneven floors. I saw it in its fully remodeled version, even before a hammer was ever swung. A beauty in the rough. It was a house that was loved and well-cared for, just needing some (a lot) of improvements to make it livable for me.

I am flying to Florida for the weekend. Another, who does this moment, but, why not? I had 20,000 airline miles so the trip literally cost $11.20.

This weekend has a lot of unknowns, and maybe a lot of beauty in the "rough" too. I know why I am going back to Florida, it's all about connections. I am learning that's what this year is becoming about, along with "time and place", reflections and growth. The sights and sounds from around the world will make for memorable backdrops for connections...

Here to a weekend of fun in the sun. And maybe some "muddin" 😉

-Cole

Adding miles to my trek across the globe, one weekend at a time!