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As most of our readers know, this blog is written by a mother-daughter team so we have two generations of ideas and views on things. It is interesting to me, the mom, as to how I keep learning things even as I get older. It is even more amazing to me that I finally learn them and how well they pay off! I had a very interesting experience awhile ago and it made me realize that, finally, I am learning lessons I had hoped I would! Some of you may have viewed the Siesta Key home on the left side of our blog that we rent as a vacation home. Well, I am the property manager since I am the owner and I deal with a lot of people from all over the world on a regular basis in my dealings with the rentals. Most people that call or write are so very nice and then there are a few that can be difficult. Sometimes people know right away they want to rent our home and some take a little longer to decide. Some people take more of my time to talk to and others less. Most people, once they decide to rent our home, follow through with their plans and a few people change their minds last minute. I have come to expect this and it is very normal. Awhile ago, I spoke to lovely woman on the phone who was totally excited about renting our home. So, of course, once they committed to me, I was committed to them and would not rent our home to others for that time period. So I blocked out the time for this family and last minute they backed out. So, of course, as human nature would have it, I was somewhat frustrated and annoyed about that since I had spent a lot of my time explaining things to them and lots of emails and calls went back and forth. My first impulse was to get angry since I was so frustrated. However, age has taught me not to act on my impulses so quickly! I knew I had to calm myself down and compose myself. I also rationalized and understood that they were a young couple and perhaps finances were tight for them. So, I sat myself down at my computer and wrote them a nice email and wished them well. I told them that they would love Siesta Key and told them that if I could be of any further help to them to please contact me. And that is how I left it. I never really thought much about it again.....until I got a phone call from that same woman that cancelled her reservation. As fate would have it, the home they did decide to rent was filthy and not a good environment for children so she called me to see if they could still rent my home if it was available. And at that moment, I realized how wonderful it is to be composed. How difficult it was for me at the moment they had originally cancelled to compose myself but how totally awesome it was when I understood that because of my self- control, I had left the door open for her to feel comfortable to call me. Everything was worked out and they did rent my home. They were grateful to have a clean, wonderful place to vacation and I was grateful to have considerate guests in my home. So I guess the important thought in all of this is that we should always try to leave the door open for others, even when they offend or disappoint us.
Circumstances change and we have to humble ourselves sometimes in order to do the right thing. It is so very easy to fly off the handle and let our actions be dictated by our emotions. BUT if we don't allow that and IF we allow our moral character to shine through in adversity we become the ultimate winners while allowing others to maintain their dignity. So my thought for today that I hope you will keep is "Keep the door open, even when offended, so others can walk in and still maintain their dignity." I hope you are having a wonderful, blessed day as you read this! Clare
