Happy 92nd Birthday, Grandma!

Tomorrow my grandma turns 92, and like clockwork every summer, we’re spending this week down the shore in Lavallette/ Ortley beach, just like we have for the past 10+ years.

This week is always more than a vacation for me. It’s become my time to reflect, to journal, and to think about what’s ahead for the second half of the year. I look forward to it every single summer.

This year that reflection hits differently.

Earlier this year, she had a health scare. It was scary and one of the scariest stretches of the year for our whole family. But it also gave me something I don’t take for granted: the flexibility to actually be there for her when she needed me most.

Not just checking in from a distance. Not squeezing in a phone call between appointments. Actually present, actually available, actually physically there.

That flexibility didn’t come from nowhere.

Back in 2016, sitting in a rented summer house in Ortley Beach, I had a moment that changed the trajectory of my life. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing yet or what my next steps would look like but I knew I wanted to be in real estate in some capacity.

I became obsessed with learning and figuring out how to make it work, reading and listening everything I could, asking questions, trying to map out a path that didn’t fully exist yet.

Ten years later, I’m grateful I took that leap. The work I do now isn’t just a job I show up for, it’s what I have a passion for and something that gave me the freedom to drop everything this year and show up for my grandmother when it mattered most.

That’s not something I take lightly…

It’s a big part of why I love what I do, and why I keep building this business the way I do. Flexibility isn’t just a nice perk of this career. It’s the whole point for me.

So this week, watching her get around the shore, healthy, laughing, present with all of us, means everything. It’s not lost on me how lucky we are to have her here for another one of these weeks.

This week has always been my checkpoint. A chance to look back at the first half of the year and figure out what I want the second half to look like, both personally and in my business. This year, sitting on the beach and spending time with my grandma and the rest of my family, the answer feels pretty simple…

I want more of this.

More time with the people who matter. More flexibility to show up when it counts. More summers like this one.

Another summer. Another birthday. Another year of her in our lives.

Happy birthday, Grandma Chach. Cheers to another 92 years!!

Do you have an annual reflection you do? When and where is it usually? How has it helped you in your life?

I’m curious!