Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Mary Said, "Why Me?"

Do you ever just connect with someone? Last week I visited with Mary Whittman, owner of Lloyd Brothers Walker Company, a monument company in Toledo. I had met Mary not too long before at the morning WEN meeting. At those meetings, everyone in attendance gets a chance to give a 20 second introduction. As I listened to those intros, I would note the names of people who intrigued me for one reason or another. Mary made the list. At the end of the meeting with list in hand I made it my goal to schedule appointments with those people to find out more about them and their businesses.

Until the day I visited Mary at her store, I didn't know she was the owner. I thought she was an employee. But no, last year when it looked like the long time Toledo company was going to close, she offered to purchase. And the rest is history as she nears the one year mark.

As we sat chatting, we found that we had quite a bit in common -- our grown kids, especially. She mentioned in passing that she has her real estate license. I told her that Certified Networker offers continuing ed hours for REALTORS in Ohio. She mentioned having to have her daughter mind the store in July last year so she could attend the necessary courses to keep her license. Because I am involved with the ins and outs of CEUs, I knew that her birthday was probably in July, as REALTORS licenses expire according to birth date in Ohio. Also, many wait till the last minute to get the necessary credit hours.

Of course, I had to ask her birth date. Guess what. It is the same as mine, July 27th.

Early in our meeting, Mary had asked me, "What made you single me out?" I really couldn't put my finger on any one thing. But I think that it was just the universe putting two Leo's together!

When have you connected with someone and not known why you were drawn to them?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just yesterday, I was looking at some photos with a friend and there was one of a birthday cake. I asked when was your birthday, he said Dec 28th. I then got my license out and said, read the birthdate on mine, since I knew he wouldn't believe mine also was Dec 28th. I plan to ask what day is your birthday when doing one-on-ones from now on.