#grla

Dear Gus & Magnus,

This is a photo from my GRLA class that I'm facilitating. They are deep into working on their legacy project, which will help REALTORS know who to call -- the association vs the commission vs anyone else -- with various real estate issues. The highlight of my day was giving a communications report I built to the Communications Committee, which gave me a chance to really dig into the progress I've made since taking this job. I didn't realize how successful our communications have been. My proudest stats were that our Facebook views are up 49% in 2026, and that 49.9 percent of our views came from people who are not already following us, which means we're expanding our audience and engaging them with our content. (And, honestly, I don't like most of things I'm posting because I'm not even getting close to the quality of content I'd be able to post if I had Bryan, Darla, and a graphic designer on staff.)

I sat in on the Diversity Committee meeting and had a very real conversation about the topic. I had multiple people I respect tell me afterward that I was responsible for steering the conversation where it needed to go, which made me feel good.

It was a long day, but I did my job well today. Board meeting in the morning, then heading home.

Dad.

Dear Gus & Magnus,

This month's GRLA retreat focused on advocacy. I kicked things off with a presentation about growing up with a dad in the legislature. Andrea ran everyone through a mock legislative bill analysis. Phillip talked about the importance of the ARA's political action committee. Then I took them all to dinner at Camp Taco.

Dad.

Dear Gus & Magnus,

You two and Mom headed to Mississippi this morning to visit Grandpa & Tutu at their new house -- they've spent the last few months moving from their home in Arizona to their new place -- and I went back to Hot Springs to facilitate a retreat for my leadership class.

This session is all about how the Arkansas REALTORS Association engages with communities philanthropically. I had speakers from Hearts & Homes, Special Olympics Arkansas, and Jackson House talk to the class this afternoon.

Afterward, we all went back to the hotel, put on luau attire, and walked together to a local REALTOR's lake house for a social event. I spent most of the night talking to my friend Heather about REALTOR life and her husband Micky -- my friend who died six years ago after a drunk driver hit him head-on. The drunk driver is in prison now, but every couple of years she has to go to his parole hearings to talk about how losing Micky has impacted her life and the lives of her two boys. They were 11 and six years old when he died. I can't stand to think about leaving you both at such young ages. It was the drunk driver's fifth drunk driving arrest. I hate it so much for them.

Dad.

Hot Springs, Arkansas. 3.23.2026 - 7.11pm.

Dear Gus & Magnus,

Arguably the most important responsibility I had at February Meetings for the ARA was leading the opening session of the Graduate REALTOR Leadership Academy -- ten ambitious people who have chosen to take their careers in real estate to the next level. In our opening session, I spent nearly three hours talking about the importance of leaning on each other and getting involved in the association where they can. We also had various leaders from the association come in to talk about the way things work.

I'm looking forward to getting to know them all between now and when they'll graduate in September, but I'm also excited to have my friend Heather as one of the participants.

Dad.

Broj grla će morati smanjivati čak i oni koji stoku drže za vlastite potrebe, a stočare širom RS suša je prinudila da zbog nedostatka hrane, redukuju stočni fond, što će se posebno osjetiti od početka naredne godine kad se zalihe još smanje.

Kazali su to stočari iz RS, navodeći da se stoku, kako kažu, više isplati prodati nego kupovati stočnu hranu, a čak u naredne dvije godine će se, kako kažu,…