A few weeks ago, surfing the Active Rain net, I landed in Hawaii, reading Randy Prothero's blog post: SO YOU WANT TO BE A REAL ESTATE AGENT. He references Margaret Rome and recommends and links to an order form for her newly published book: Real Estate The Right Rome Way.
I was excited to order the new book, clicked the link and an order form opened up. I filled in the usual blanks, and was then asked if I would like an autographed copy or not. (WHAT? Are you kidding?! This is a question?) And my thoughts simply wandered away...
... far, far away, to Marshall Field & Co in downtown Chicago in the 1960's. Once in a blue moon, my father would take me out of school for a day for what he decided was an "educational" day on the finer things of life (sending me back to school the next day with a sick excuse). Leaving the south side neighborhood of St. Christina's parish behind, we headed out, in our finest, to Michigan and State Avenue, where we set off on an adventure through the many forests floors of this world-famous, iconic department store. A true, fairytale-of-a-day, with his
red carpet of words presented to me each time the elevator door opened up for our entrance to another department. He pointed out all the things I would never see in our cookie-cutter home where about 10 children slept at night. So, before I'd lived a decade, I had learned to appreciate the art and the BEAUTY of beveled glass, bone china, cut crystal, Egyptian cotton, fine linen, solid wood-handled real hairbrushes, Italian leather shoes, silk dresses, and delectable pastries, properly served at The Walnut Room. One afternoon, he kept me huddled in a long line that had formed around a table stacked high with books. Perplexing enough, every book was the same. It took me awhile to put all the pieces together, long after I shook the hand of writer, Virginia Graham who stooped down to greet me as I held on to my father's enthusiasm. So before I was a decade old, I'd been hugely impressed with the autograph my father showed me in the book he proudly carried home. And the photo of Virginia on the book jacket was a face I never forgot. I MET AN AUTHOR!
Sorry about that...back to the online order form I was completing earlier this month. OF COURSE if an 
autograph was offered, OF COURSE that would be a treat! So OF COURSE I selected YES! Then another box appeared for me to enter the text of how I would like it autographed. HUH? Gosh... I had no words except the obvious "To Mara, the best, from Rome"... No, that just wouldn't do. So I entered "surprise me." Less than a week later, my phone rang. "Hello Mara, this is Margaret Rome." "Oh my gosh!" I answered, "the 
lady who wrote the book?!" "I wanted to surprise you," she said. Well, mission begeezus accomplished! I couldn't have been more thrilled with this absolute GIFT of a surprise, enjoying a delightful conversation that blessed me with inspiration and put a 1000-volt charge into my day. I learned she was one of Active Rain's first thousand members (800+), and that she left the first comment on Broker Bryant's first blog---now that is some real history folks! She told me about her days as a ceramic artist, and how she, too, became an unintentional Realtor. She told me the heartwarming story of blog artist, Marti Garaughty, who worked diligently and brilliantly with her time and design constraints, pulling through with the amazing (as his work always is) book cover design. Listening to Margaret was being educated to the finer things of life. It was that special day out of school and a trip to the world of downtown. It was the art of ROME and a delectable surprise, properly served. THANK YOU, Margaret Rome, for the gift of surprise---the ROME Way! Thank you for the beautiful, red-carpeted inscription in my book: "keep surprising yourself" and for the ultimate surprise of your phone call. THANK YOU for the BEAUTY of ACTIVE RAIN that was left pounding in my heart.
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Active in Alabama, Mara Hawks, REALTOR with FIRST REALTY of Auburn, AL, #1 Real Estate Team in Lee County, THE LEADER in professional real estate services in Auburn, Opelika & Lee County for over 3 decades! Committed to INTEGRITY, KNOWLEDGE & SERVICE.
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