I flew 615 miles to walk across the street to a food truck with my mom.
Well, not really. I flew down to Austin to visit her. She’s 85, and lives just north of Austin near Round Rock, where my sister can keep close watch on her.
What’d we do? We walked to a food truck. Twice. That’s about it. And we did a lot of talking. Mom calls the sayings that emerge from these counseling sessions, endearingly and a little annoyingly, “pearls of wisdom.” I’ve gotten a lifelong dose, needed or not.
Margaret Stewart practiced real estate in Houston between 1978 and 2018. She worked, in the beginning, for a company called K.L. McGuirt and Company. The first pearl of wisdom came from Mr. McGuirt, who counseled his agents: “Always out-nice ‘em.” Mom has told me that he was referring to times when things can get touchy, edgy, even a little unkind in a deal. Mr. MGuirt’s axiom was meant to convey that if you can’t accomplish something in this business while remaining kind, he probably didn’t want you working for him.
I don’t blame him.
A second pearl: “Listen more than you talk.” This is easy for me because I don’t talk a whole lot anyway. The beauty of it is that the more you listen, what you eventually do say will have that much more value. It really is that simple. The third: “Watch body language.” Most of us do this instinctively as a threat assessment. But it’s so easy to get caught up in events and forget to focus on this, which is probably the most effective way to anticipate events: watch what people are doing. I’ve learned this is, in fact, a very respectful act. Not doing so is the opposite.
The fourth of the pearls is one I’ve amended: “Always be prepared.” My modification (admittedly aspirational) is to insert “more” after “be” and “than anyone else” after “prepared.” Always be more prepared than anyone else. Yes, sometimes you have to force yourself to do the preparedness homework. Discipline plays a role.
Two Blocks to Felafel
One thing for which I’m seriously thankful is the ridiculous felafel sandwich from the Beirut food truck, a mere two blocks away — easily the best felafel I’ve had. In fact, it was so good was it that I dragged mom down there two nights in a row. The walk was admittedly a very slow saunter, but there was ample time for a pearl of wisdom or two.
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