Posted by By Oretta Croushore, Property Manager for Home Rental Services.
2020 has proven to be a year like no other. I feel kind of bad for it. It’s getting a pretty bad reputation. Typically, I am partial to the even numbered years. I have closeted feelings about numbers. There are some I really like, and some that disgust me. Evens are my favorites, repeating evens brings me double pleasure.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, and the doctor started talking induction, I immediately gave her a list of acceptable days. She looked at me like I was crazy and told me she would schedule me when she was on call. It worked out, 8/18/06 was very pleasing to me. (I was secretly hoping for 8/16 since 16 is twice 8 and repeats the 6 from the year, but I’m nothing if not flexible. And my husband was unwilling to deliver our baby at home).
I can accept odd numbers, especially if they are multiples of 3. As we learned from School House Rock, 3 is a magic number. Prime numbers disgust me to no end; 2 is the exception. They don’t play well with others and they kind of sit there, thinking they are better than everyone else because NOTHING divides evenly into them. So, you can imagine how I felt about the calendar turning to 2020. The evenness, the repeating, such a thing of beauty!
A virus changed all that. A virus, I might add, containing a prime number! I see you there 19, trying to ruin everything. Just like with any adversity one faces in their lives, you have two choices. You can wallow in the sadness of it all or you can make the best of it.
The glass is half full.
At Home Rental Services, we are ”make the best of it” people. My love of our annual owner client appreciation party, otherwise known as The Pie Party, is no secret. When I was cyber stalking HRS, hoping they would love my resume enough to call me, I read their blog about the pie party on LinkedIn. I said out loud, “I want to work for a company that has a pie party!” Here I am. Not only do I work for a company who has pie parties, I am also writing my second blog post about the event! (Here is the first one.) Tell the universe what you want! Say it loud and proud and be specific.
As you are probably aware, we have been working remotely since March. It’s been a positive experience for me personally. At first, I was missing my work family, something fierce. We have ways to stay in touch between Zoom meetings, Google Hangout chats, phone calls, and the occasional porch dropped surprise… we make it all work. Like a good family does.
The Three Ps – Pie Party Planning
We know how blessed we are to be part of an essential business, which has remained operational during these tough times. When we realized we were quickly approaching Pie Party Planning time, we knew we could not let this event slip away this year. Now, more than ever, we knew we needed to show our owner clients how much they mean to us. We also wanted to be able to spread a little love when it seems to be the most needed.
We knew we couldn’t do the Pie Party the traditional way with people coming to the office to get their pies and mingling over hors d’oeuvres and wine. Instead, we decided to do a drive thru pick up. The idea behind the pies is that you take them to Thanksgiving dinner. (Don’t worry, we don’t judge if you keep it for yourself to eat while watching Hallmark Christmas movies.) With families making the tough choice to change up the way they do Thanksgiving gatherings, we decided to change the pies too. Out with the pumpkin pie in with the pizza pie! After all, that is amore! We put together a Friday night, drive thru, take and bake pizza pie party!
By all accounts, we should have been freezing our parmesan off out there. I mean, outside in the evening in late November in Kansas! We had plans for a portable heater and being bundled beyond recognition. Mother Nature must have liked our idea because she gave us a pretty decent night. As a plus, a face mask keeps your nose warm! It was awesome.
We had clients driving up and walking up to get their pizzas. We got to meet some fur babies we would not normally get to meet. I’m a sucker for all the babies! Some people stood and chatted for a while, but maintained their distance. I’m a hugger by nature, so I had to remind myself not to do that. An elbow bump is a nice stand in, though not a replacement. This Pie Party was not the way we usually do it. But, we did not let a prime number virus ruin our good feels. We found a way to power through and it felt great.
As an added bonus, we got to be together as a work family. I have seen everyone individually for various things over the months. This is the only time we have all been together. Though, I wanted to give hugs and get hugs, it filled me with so much joy to be together. We celebrated our blessings and spread some love in the form of pepperoni and cheese. I left that evening with one more thing to put into my Joy Jar.
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