Monday Motivation, 11.29.2021

Written by: Mike Goleski

Every Monday, The Rogers-Long Team meets for one of its two weekly meetings. The Monday meeting always ends with “Monday Motivation” in which a few minutes are spent listening to one team member presenting a quote, a quick reading from a book, a scene from a movie, or anything else they find motivating to provide a “spark” to the whole team on a Monday morning.

Websters definition of the word thanks reads, an expression of gratitude. It also defines the word giving as providing love or other emotional support.

 I moved to Richmond twenty-six years ago by myself. The next year I was married, and it was the two of us. Within three years we had two beautiful children. For the past twenty-three plus years I can count on one hand the number of times we had family other than the four us together for the Thanksgiving holiday. Growing up in upstate New York every holiday was with family. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. This past week some very good friends of ours from Syracuse decided that they would make the trip to Richmond for Thanksgiving. One son flew in from Boston and their daughter and her boyfriend flew in from New York city. We have been texting about it and everyone was so excited. We had so much fun. Lots of laughs a few tears and a case or two of wine. That’s right I said a case or two! We deep fried two turkeys. We had enough food to feed an army. The house was so loud from sunup to way past sundown. We played pitch we played golf three times. The girls went shopping. We watched football and basketball (F@%* VCU!). That’s for you Dawn😊 We all sat around the fire on Thursday night and gave thanks. It was awesome!!

 Now here it is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Everyone is sleeping in their own beds. There are no shoes to trip over in the morning. No dirty dishes in the sink. The house looks like it’s up for sale. Christmas is less than four weeks away. The Christmas tree that went up yesterday and I wish it was one week until Thanksgiving. I miss all the craziness. Where did the week go? I have said it before, “Time waits for no one”! I know its only a matter of time before my twenty-three- and twenty-one-year-old start their own families and they get pulled in different directions. This Thanksgiving was different than others. My family was talking, and we all said it was one of the best holidays and it should be the norm. The Woods texted fifteen minutes later and said they would like to make the trip to Richmond the annual Thanksgiving holiday. And so, it begins. The annual Goleski-Woods tradition is in place. I am looking forward to the next time we all get together. I know its three hundred and sixty days until the next Thanksgiving. But I’m going to enjoy today. I’m going to do my best to show expressions of gratitude and provide emotional support every day for my family, my team and my friends.

Mike Goleski, a Realtor with The Rogers-Long Team, started selling real estate in 1999. The RLT was thrilled to welcome Mike to the team in February of 2018 due to his competitive edge and disciplined attitude, which he learned from serving 6 years in the US NAVY as a SeaBee. In his spare time, you can find Mike on the golf course or even behind home plate umpiring an NCAA baseball game.