Happy Thanksgiving.
I hope you’re enjoying some good family time today the kind filled with great conversation, good food, and a little something to sip on. And while gratitude is something we should practice every day, there’s something about this season that makes it easier to pause, look around, and actually feel it. Sometimes going with the grain isn’t a bad thing, right?
This year, I want to share what I’m most thankful for and it’s a story about my Grandma Aryls. Without her, I wouldn’t be here, and neither would this big, loud, loving family of mine. Today also marks one year since she passed… on Thanksgiving. She was 87. A small-town girl from Hawley, Minnesota who went on to become a Flagstaff icon and a major force in the real estate community.
Looking back, I realize she and my mom were quietly grooming me for the family business long before I ever thought about real estate. But she didn’t just teach me how to price a home she taught me how to treat people. How to inspire them. How relationships truly are the most valuable thing we build in this life.
I didn’t fully get it until my first job in a restaurant. That’s when I saw what she meant that kindness, honesty, love, and a little humor can create real connection. She lived that every single day. She raised three kids mostly on her own, left her job as a teacher, and then spent 50 years building one of Flagstaff’s most respected real estate firms as a woman in a time when the world wasn’t exactly cheering that on. She was a pioneer long before the word was trendy.
She was also famously late because she was never done listening, caring, connecting. That was her secret: pour into people and the rest takes care of itself. She knew life was a long game. She tended the garden every day.
Losing her was hard. I’ve had so many moments this past year where I wished I could pick up the phone the day I got my real estate license, my wedding day, finding out we have a little one on the way. Those weekly calls… man, those hit the hardest. Holidays hit different now too. I miss her lefse, the hug she’d give me the second she saw me, and watching her light up when the whole family was together.
But grief can also be inspiring. It forces you to grow. It pushes you to live with purpose. I like to think this “post-Grandma life” is starting to reflect the things she’d be proud of the things I’m proud of. Year one in real estate was full of joy and heartbreak, lessons and wins. It’s a career that teaches you about life just as much as it teaches you about housing. And I’m excited for year two and everything that comes after.
She lives in me every day. Her spirit is still here in so many ways.
So today, look around. Take it in. Then try to take it in every day because some moments only happen once, and others will follow us our whole lives. Either way, don’t forget to enjoy them, grow through them, and be thankful for them.
We’re all human. We naturally look for what’s wrong. But try to find what’s good too.
I hope you enjoyed reading this, and if you feel like sharing a story of your own, I’d love to hear it.
Wishing you and your family all the best.
And as always if you need anything real estate related, I’m here. 😉
– Austin Quick
