Jane

It is a humbling experience to go to a settlement that wasn't supposed to happen this way and see the tears in the eyes of the grateful buyers. I wore a purple suit that I bought just for this closing. It wasn't my usual color, but it was the favorite color of the little eight year old girl who, only two month's earlier had eyes that danced with excitement as she picked out her room in the house mommy and daddy were buying. Jane had lived in one foster home after another since she was born. No one really wanted to keep her, even her birth mother apparantly. As an infant, through no fault of her own, she screamed and cried through nights as the crack in her newborn system wreaked havoc with her developing nervous system. One foster mother after another would stay up nights rocking her until her own health broke down and a request would be made to place Jane somewhere else. Before she was five and started kindergarten, Jane had lived in over ten different homes or institutions. She had big blue eyes and very curly hair and a million dollar smile... a smile that captured the hearts of my buyers who were finally buying a personal bedroom and the house to go with it for the little girl who was now their own adopted daughter.
The home was modest, a short sale, with a small fenced-in back yard, an old rusty swing set that Jane's father said he would paint and get new chains for. Jane's new parents really stuggled financially after deciding to adopt her. So it felt like a miracle the day they got mortgage approval and then bank approval and the settlement date was scheduled! It was really going to happen! I drove by the now vacant house one day and saw their pick up truck in the driveway and the gate to the back yard open. I smiled when I noticed the little girl's legs pumping, curly blond hair blowing in the breeze, and saw her purple sneakers swinging back and forth. I approached, planning on telling them that they shouldn't be on the premises until they owned it, but when I heard her giggles while crying " higher, Daddy, higher!" I just couldn't. I said "Hello" and gave Jane a kiss and a hug, told the family that they only had three more weeks and it would all be theirs!! They decided to take my hint and walked me out to their truck. I saw Jane jump in the middle between her parents, turn around in the cab window and wave at me. That was the last time I saw little Jane laugh.
The doctor said it wasn't unusual for such things to happen to crack babies. Smiling and healthy one day, waking up the next with a high fever, spasms, an epileptic seisure, a frantic ambulance ride to the emergency room and suddenly a silence that was black. I was called by my buyers on their way to the hospital - I had become much more than a Realtor to them. They knew I would be there for them. It was all I could do to pray though my tears as the doctor covered her little face, nurses scurrying around, and suddenly silence laying on our hearts like her little purple sweater laying next to the bed on the metal chair.
I wore purple to settlement today. The earth hasn't grown grass yet over the spot where little Jane lay. But the bank said the sale was final, must still go on. So there will still be a house, a little girl's bedroom with a "Jane" placque on the door. I handed my sweet buyers the keys to their new home and presented them with many housewarming gifts among which were a packet of purple forget-me-not seeds,some potting soil, a can of purple paint and a brand new shiny chain for that rusty swingset that made Jane laugh.
I cringe when I hear people say "real estate" is just a job, a business transaction, a lead conversion, a "seal the deal" thing. For me, it is not just what you do to get paid. Most of my clients become personal friends who have entrusted me with their personal life decisions. Real Estate is not a job to get good at. It is a privilege and honor that involves your heart commitment as much as your head knowledge. In fact, sometimes, as Jane taught me, heart commitment makes the difference.