Gratitude Post :: EV Awards
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank each and every one of my wonderful clients for trusting me to help them with one of the biggest financial decisions of their life—the selling or purchase of a property. I am beyond grateful!Because of the trust you bestowed upon me, I have reached the Ruby Level within Engel & Volkers. It is an honor to be among such a great, dynamic group of agents and friends at Engel & Volkers Whistler. Congratulations to my esteemed colleagues for their achievements!2021 was a fantastic year for real estate, albeit another challenging one, as the Covid pandemic continued to pose unique challenges. To all of my clients, who were such troopers amidst the masks and the sanitizer and the social distancing, I owe this Ruby award to you! Thank you!
Snowpocalypse & Pugs
The end of 2021 was a record-breaker for Sea-to-Sky real estate, but the chart-busting doesn't end there. In addition to closing out a banner year for real estate, we were also blanketed with unprecedented early winter snow.In the months of November and December, we got a total of 175 cms (for my American friends, that is nearly 6 feet of snow!). As we inched into January, even more snow arrived, so much that the plows couldn't even keep up around town. Locals had to get out the shovels and pitch in, as it paralyzed Whistler for a spell.The whiteout was so beautiful and added such a joyful hue to the holidays, which was overshadowed by the tough Omicron wave. I hope you all stayed healthy throughout the most recent variant and, if you did catch it, that is was a mild case.Up on the mountains, Whistler Blackcomb had an incredible start to the season with epic conditions for the skiers/boarders. All of our holiday visitors—who'd stayed away for the last two years—were very happy!On Boxing Day, our granddaughter, Juniper, arrived for a week and we had loads of fun in the POW, sledding and building snowmen.She was extra excited about this visit, as we had two new snuggle buddies to warm us up on the couch after playing outside. In December, Patty and I began fostering two of the cutest little rescue pugs: Winky and Myley.Their rescue was orchestrated by the Pug Queen foundation and they came from horrendous circumstances in China, where they lived their whole lives in tiny cages at a puppy mill. Both pugs have issues with their legs and feet because of always being in such cramped space. If they hadn't been rescued, at the end of their usefulness, they would've likely been sold to the awful dog meat trucks, headed slaughterhouse. In total, the Pug Queen saved over 70 dogs on this mission, on three separate Air China flights. The Pug Queen's work is absolutely amazing and has made such a difference in these little lives! We have always been huge pug lovers, so we're so happy to be a small part of it.Winky and Myley were some of the smallest pugs to arrive, both only 9 lbs. Because they are runts, they stuck together at the rescue house, as they were bullied by bigger dogs. Right before they travelled to Vancouver, one of those bullies attacked Winky and she sustained a serious eye injury that needed immediate medical attention. When we picked them up at YVR, we took her straight to the ER for assessment and, sadly, she had to have her eye removed. But that didn't squash her spirit, nor her joy! Winky bounced back quickly after her eye healed, even though she was pretty much blind after the surgery. (Dogs are so adaptive—we can learn a lot from them.)Throughout our fostering journey, it was amazing to see Winky and Myley experience so many things for the first time: their first bed, first nap on the couch, first toy, first peanut butter filled Kong, first walk, first time on grass, first week of consistent food, etc. It was a true honor and joy to show them that humans can be loving and kind. Having them here made the holidays extra special. It was a true Christmas present. It's kind of funny how their arrival was timed with our record snowfall, as well as the intense cold snap we had in December (numerous -15+ days). They weren't sure what to make of all the white stuff and the cold weather, but they sure were troopers. We took them for lots of walks in their little backpacks, so they could explore, but stay warm. Juniper, of course, fell in love. When she first arrived, Myley (the one who can see) was terrified of her, as they'd never seen a little human before. It was super cute to watch them check each other out.At the end of her visit, it was hard for Juniper to say goodbye. There were tears. She was so amazing with them, taking such sweet care, singing to them at night and making sure they were comfortable. I know the whole experience is something she will never forget. When she grows up, Juniper said, she wants to save all the sad dogs, too, like the Pug Queen. I told her that maybe we can start calling her the Pug Princess and she agreed, as she dried her tears. :)
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