“The small seed, from each mighty tree is grown, contains the memory of every tree which came before it–so are people.“
A group of blind people were brought to the zoo to “take a look” at an elephant. Each of them would touch different parts of the elephant and then describe what they felt. One, who touched a tail, claimed that the elephant “looked” like a rope. One, who touched the trunk, thought the elephant was like a pipe. One, who held a foot, claimed that the elephant was like an electrical pole.I thought about this story on our recent trip to Big Sur, where we took a photo workshop with Eddie Soloway, a great photographer, whom we met on our trip to Cuba and whose poetic images led my wife Elfa to decide to take his weekend class, as her birthday (April 17th) present. There was a group of 14 very talented photographers (each showed samples of their work). Our lessons consisted of “child-like” exercises and trips to photograph images in nature. One of the exercises was to look at the mighty cypress tree growing next to our classroom, which was located on the site of the Big Sur Lodge. Eddie had given us small paper frames, and placed us in different positions, where we were told to share two words about the images we saw in our frames. After I finished my assignment, I went around and took different shots. One was through a double plastic cover of a laundry delivery vehicle parked nearby. Another was a group shot. I came back in the evening and photographed a tree, without my tripod, to capture a mysterious image in the dark.
On Sunday morning, our last day, I came to the tree, touched it, and said “Thank you” and “Good-bye”. At that moment, I could see a part of the bark with its’ beautiful colors. It was the tree’s present to me and now to you. Since most of what I do brings my thoughts back to mortgages, below you will find some of the images with the mortgage story:
Clients’ circumstances are veiled and hidden and sometimes it is difficult to see the tree (a mortgage), but I know it is there.
At the beginning, it can look fuzzy and mysterious, but there is always some light.
Some parts and documents that the borrowers present might be unusually colored, or be covered with cobwebs.
A team of different experts and mortgage professionals will take a careful look at the mortgage.
Finally a beautiful tree (mortgage) will appear in its full glory.
P.S.
One weekends, I often walk downhill from my house to the West Portal library. Last time I visited the library, the book displayed on the table in front of me was “The World of Trees” by Hugh Johnson. It is a great book from which you can learn a lot about trees. If you are interested in photography, Eddie Soloway will teach two workshops this summer at the Santa Fe Photo Workshop.
P.P.S
In response for last week’s TIC story, one of our clients responded:
“Our story was even better than that, and, the only correction I would make to your prenuptial metaphor is as follows:
“TIC is like marriage except, it is a group one with multiple wives and multiple husbands. Untangling that equates to a divorce court in which you can only get the divorce if all ex-spouses find a new partner…“
SMILE AND PLEASE SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND
Best Wishes,
