Timeless Lessons, Courtesy of The Skally Boys! Lesson #1
We wanted to share a few of our recent experiences that reminded us of invaluable life lessons.
Lesson #1: Sharing is (way) better than buying!
As many of you know we’re a baseball family. We often find ourselves torn between the pure joy it brings and the outrageous expense machine it has become. When we played back in the day we had 3 helmets and 3 bats (small, medium and large) for the whole team to share. Nowadays, most kids have at least 2 bats of their own, a wood and also a composite one. Everyone has their own helmet. And some players seem to “need” three pairs of shoes (turf, metal and molded cleats).
When we were kids the farthest we traveled to play was the neighboring City, never to Arizona, California, or Las Vegas like the kids today. While we love those tournament trips we’re often wondering if some of that money would be better directed towards their college or retirement savings accounts.
We started to wonder if we needed to raise our baseball budget this year when instead of assigning Christian to a specific fielding position, he was being leveraged as a utility player on his teams. Meaning he was situationally used for most positions on the field. For example, halfway through his high school season, he was asked to be the new starting catcher. Well, he hadn’t been a catcher in over 5 years and we had no catcher’s gear for him.
Then for his “select” team he was getting playing time in the outfield, but he only had his compact middle infielder’s glove. Then our first baseman couldn’t make a tournament and Christian was asked to take on that position. He was literally playing every position on the field but his personal glove was optimal for only 2 of the 9 positions.
Well, we could have fallen into the trap and headed off to Dick’s Sporting Goods with the trusty credit card and bought him the gear and gloves and why not another bat while we wear at it! But we resisted the temptation for him to have it all and instead encouraged him to take a play out of our childhood playbook… ask his friends and teammates to borrow their equipment. We’re happy to report it worked like magic. Each kid who shared with Christian seemed to be happy to do so. It made their connection and friendship stronger. And we certainly appreciated the time savings and cost avoidance. Now that’s what we call a win-win!
The next time you feel like you need something or have to have it, we encourage you to slow down a minute and consider if you could borrow somebody else's. It might just make their day to help you out and strengthen your friendship, and it surely could wind up saving you time and money too. After all, that’s what neighbors and friends are for.
We look forward to sharing our 2nd lesson next month…and we’ll give you a little hint, it involves lemons and lemonade!
Until next time, all our best to you,
Matt & Christina
Matt & Christina are Team Skally, top real estate agents in the Seattle Metro with expertise in luxury homes on the Eastside including Bellevue, Newcastle, Mercer Island, Renton and Issaquah. Their client testimonials say it all - they deliver exceptional service and record-breaking results. Recognized as top agents on social media by Property Sparks, Diamond Award winners for best client service, winners of 2023 Nextdoor Neighborhood Faves and regularly featured in online and print publications including Greet - Newcastle & Newport Hills Magazine. In addition to serving clients, Matt and Christina love family time with their two boys and two Goldendoodles as well as volunteering in the community.