Work From Home — Day 43

Glimmer

5:00AM PST

This morning’s Where We Are Now is from the laptop of Jessica Grimes, VP Marketing.

Team – 

You always hear me speak about marketing. Not today… Instead: Glimmer!

Luckily, I find glimmer, a little bit of light and at least one lesson of positivity, in the most difficult and challenging of situations. These situations are the defining moments of who we are, “our personal best” as our amazing leader Mark McLaughlin famously says. I had to learn early, and luckily my mother and father were good teachers…. not easy, but good!

My mother was born into a German expat family living in Manila in the 1930s and 40s. She was born just months before the Japanese invaded during WWII. Tragedy of war is something most of us have not faced in the traditional sense, but we are facing in the modern sense now. Mostly unaware as a small child, she went on to enjoy a rich and exotic life in The Philippines, including stories of a pet monkey swinging from their chandeliers, dipping into jars of jam on the breakfast table, and playing with my grandmother’s coveted perfumes. I could listen to her stories forever. This all ended when she was sent to the US for boarding school back east. 

It was then when my mother faced her first real tragedy. She learned by a telegram she received in school that her father had passed. My grandmother and extended family decided it was time to move everyone to the United States — the film people went south to Beverly Hills and the rest went north to San Francisco. There, my mother, at first reluctantly, accepted a blind date set up by colleagues at Marsh & McLennan. My father proposed to her on their third date, and they were married five months later. Glimmer!

The next major tragedy would then strike. The day my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, we had no idea it would be a long torturous road for the next five years. I distinctly remember the day I found out. I was sitting in a classroom at Convent of the Sacred Heart on Broadway, staring out at the beautiful San Francisco Bay when I should have been listening to Ms. Luna’s social studies lecture. I was 9, and while I really did not fully understand what this meant and was scared, I was also focused on being a 9 year-old kid, as my mother and father wanted for me and my brothers.

Fast forward five years, she lost her battle and that would be the defining moment for me. At 14 living in a house full of boys I had to figure out quickly how to survive as an independent woman. This was the glimmer; my mother prepared me for this! The glimmer was also the way my Dad, brothers and I came together in such a tight union of support for one another. Yes, there were teenage arguments and pink clothes from laundry mishaps, but through it, we are closer. My father, not new to challenges growing up in the 1930s during The Great Depression and later leading a battalion of 1st Division Marines in the Korean War, found his glimmer in San Francisco with a beautiful wife of 22 years. From bad comes good. Glimmer.

My mother’s vision, strength, and style pushed me to do things I was uncomfortable doing. I worked for international companies that would take me to exotic places like my mother, father, and brothers had done. I became an expat for years in Germany, Italy, Singapore and Australia. I did these moves by myself, and while there were some challenging and lonely times, there were many more unbelievably extraordinary times. They both define me today. Glimmer.

Two Aprils ago, I had to make a big decision in my life and for my two young girls. While I deeply desired to keep our family formation of four together, inside I was breaking apart at the seams. I had to trust my gut and made the cut. Then, last April, I made the move most native San Franciscans struggle with: I left The City. I moved my daughters and myself to Marin, and it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. Had I not done that, I would have been in a much different SIP lockdown this April. Instead, my girls and I are thriving in Marin, even in the midst of a tragedy. Glimmer.

Thank goodness for family, friends, and our marketing and leadership team at Pacific Union, now Compass. It has been my home and tribe for eight years. You know those people who compete in solo sports versus team sports? Well I played team sports from before I could remember. I wasn’t exceptional, but it was enough to put me on varsity high school teams and to compete at a small college. I love all sports but I never competed in a solo sport, always a team sport. I am innately connected and work best with those who play well on a team. We have THE best team, here at Compass California. Glimmer.

Yesterday one of my sweet, new neighbors sent over a bag with chilled wine. (Wow, these people are so nice and already get me!) On the bag it said “Your vibe finds your tribe.” Yes, it does and I am grateful. Glimmer.

We at Compass California help people find their home. As life continues to evolve, we too will evolve, but we will always need the shelter of a home. I’m grateful to be able to serve our amazing agents who bring their personal best to help people find their home.

There’s positivity to be found everywhere. Find the glimmer. Focus there and work towards brightening that light. 

See you Tuesday at 2:00PM PST on The Path Forward.

This is Where We Are Now. 

– Jessica