Everyone Needs a Little Support Sometimes

I received a text the other day while I was at work. It was from my son who was sitting in a training session for a new job, so I immediately worried why he would be texting when he was supposed to be learning.

“Last night Sawyer ate a whole bunch of aspirin, maybe as many as 15+ 325mg pills. He’s been vomiting all night long and could barely move around. This morning Kristin took him to the vet and I’ll pick him up today hopefully. Kristin leaves for LA (Los Angeles) this afternoon.”

Me: “Oh No!!!!!! Is he going to be all right?????”

As soon as my son texted he didn’t actually know the answer to my question, I texted his sister to tell her the news. She is an analyst for a pharmaceutical maker and she immediately researched the data on the effects of ingesting aspirin. And of course, thus began multiple texts with Lauren offering to go to the vet hospital to be with Sawyer so Kristin could make her flight while we figured out how Sawyer was.

Everything worked out after an overnight stay at the doggie hospital and a hundreds of dollar bill (good thing my son started a new job!) it occurred to me how families pull together in times of crisis. Our little family has been together through thick and thin with me at the helm making the decisions. Now I have adult children. Would it work that way now? It was always my hope that they would support one another because, after all, siblings know one another from cradle to grave. It is a special bond. Together they can weather life in a rowboat if they have to. I am so happy to know that not only can they, they will.

Much like my family, I wonder sometimes about our apartment community families, and whether or not they have the same kind of support. Oftentimes, our leasing professionals become their support system, especially if they are military, international or from out-of-state. I hope we are instilling the ability to make connections and the importance of offering community support with our property management teams to our Residents. Helping bridge the gap between Residents and our teams is the best guarantee of retaining those transplants.