In the fall of 2004, both my husband Jerry and I decided it was time for a change. My Jerry had recently retired from Verizon after 39 years of being a Billing Center Operations Manager and I was working as an Asst Controller in the New York garment industry. We became empty nesters looking for a new nest. We chose central North Carolina and Clayton without ever being ½ east or west of RT95 while traveling through the state. With both of us being born and raised within 25 miles of Manhattan, Clayton was the "new world" to us.

Jerry´s first 3 day trip to look at homes in Glen Laurel triggered apprehension in me when he reported driving past miles of cotton fields while on RT42. I immediately booked a flight from Newark to RDU to insure I wasn´t getting dragged to the "boondocks".  And after just one day spent in Clayton I was easily convinced that this was the to move.. By May 2005 we moved to Glen Laurel and never looked back... Our first taste of Glen Laurel hospitality came only days after moving in when Mark and Julie Doering invited us to Mark´s birthday party. With most of the neighbors in attendance it was obvious that this was a caring, welcoming (and partying) community.

By the summer of 2005 Jerry had begun his golfing career. (He never golfed until moving to Glen Laurel) and I had earned my Realtor´s license started with Re/Max and am now currently a broker with HomeTowne Realty in Clayton. And during the transition to real estate I wanted a logo, something with true meaning, yet different, somewhat unique and here´s the story of how my logo came about:

Angels...........

My grandpa and my dad would always tell me that there were angels all around us and that they were there to protect us. Grandpa and my dad always said believe in the angels and open your heart to them and then anytime I became afraid or sad the angels would help me feel safe and happy. And as I became older I realized that by believing in them my fear and sadness would be replaced by peace and unconditional love. Having a sudden feeling of a friend in need, walking on the sidewalk and pulling someone back as a car suddenly backs quickly out of a driveway, saying or knowing things that you never remember being told or learning. That´s our Guardian angels; they are here to help us in our time of need, to protect us and to inform us. And that´s how I came to make the angel sitting on a home my logo. And every time I see my logo somewhere I know that my Grandpa and my Dad are my guardian angels as well as my family´s and that they are watching over us and protecting us and their unconditional love is here to stay.

Unlike many of the retired couples that move to Glen Laurel to be near their children and grand children, the opposite happened. Our son Tom moved from NJ in October of 2005 and our daughter Nancy followed in 2007 after graduating from the University of Delaware. Tom is now currently working as an Engineering Coordinator at American Tower in Cary and his girlfriend Jenny is a 4th grade teacher at Partnership Elementary. Jenny who is originally from Ohio also moved to North Carolina in 2005. The couple who originally met as neighbors now lives together in North Raleigh with their black lab Bailey. Nancy works for "ZSpotlight.com" your entertainment guide to the triangle and her boyfriend Mike (who is originally from Saginaw, MI) is the Manager for Stock Building Supply´s National Lock Center.