Blog – Tuesdays with Mary

Tuesdays With Mary – The Familiar in the Reunion

Tuesday, September 30, 2025 This past weekend, diving across the plains on my way to visit my mom, I passed mile after mile of fields heavy with harvest. Combines cut neat paths, dust hung in the air, and trucks rumbled toward silos. It struck me that harvest isn’t just about gathering crops — it’s about gathering what has grown quietly, almost unnoticed, over time. Reunions feel a little like that too. They aren’t built in a single afternoon. They’re the result of all the small, steady moments that add up: the inside jokes, the phrases repeated so often they become [...]

2025-09-29T17:54:12-04:00

Tuesdays With Mary – The Sweet Reward of Good Change Management

September 23, 2025 Years ago, I worked with a company whose executive sponsor told me his measure of success for a software conversion was simple: his phone wouldn’t ring with employee complaints. You can guess what happened next. His phone rang…a lot. The project kicked off strong, slowly unraveled, then stalled.  Eventually they backed out of the conversion entirely, retreating back to their old system. It was painful to watch, not because either software wasn’t capable, but because the change wasn’t managed with the right mindset. That experience reinforced something I’ve seen again and again in large and important projects: [...]

2025-09-23T09:45:28-04:00

Tuesdays With Mary: When We Forget Our Humanity

Tuesday, Sept 16, 2025 I’ve been thinking a lot about how we interact these days, how quickly conversations (online or in person) can turn sharp, judgmental, fractious, even hostile. We’re quick to spot flaws in others while missing the ones in ourselves. It’s like living in a neighborhood where every fence is taller than the houses, and we only peek over now and again to criticize. We all know what happens when rocks start flying. Suddenly, the neighborhood stops feeling like a community. We fiercely protect our own yards, we retreat, we lose connection. We become convinced our neighbors get [...]

2025-09-15T16:34:39-04:00

Tuesdays With Mary: Honoring Mary O’Donnell

Tuesday, Sept 9, 2025 Last week, our industry lost a true leader with the unexpected passing of Mary O’Donnell of Westcor. Mary was more than a successful executive—she was a woman of vision, integrity, and heart. She led with clarity and conviction, always keeping the future of our industry in view while never losing sight of the people who make it run. I remember her grace and grit, her laugh, and her sparkly eyes that held more than a bit of orneriness, too. Those who worked with her speak not only of her business acumen but also of her generosity, [...]

2025-09-08T14:57:30-04:00

Tuesdays With Mary – Why the Mortgage Market Matters Right Now

Tuesday, August 26, 2025 The housing and mortgage markets have always been central to the American economy, but right now they’re shifting in ways that demand close attention. Affordability, inventory, interest rates, negative equity, tappable equity, and borrower behavior are all moving pieces in a puzzle that affects lenders, real estate professionals, and consumers alike. In moments like this, data isn’t just helpful — it’s essential. The difference between reacting late and preparing early often comes down to who’s watching the market most closely, and how well they understand the signals behind the numbers. That’s why I’m especially excited about [...]

2025-08-25T14:46:00-04:00

Tuesdays With Mary: The Room We Share

Tuesday, August 19, 2025 There’s a strange thing about community — it works best when you don’t agree on everything. I’ve been thinking lately about what keeps a group of very different people from turning into opponents. It’s not the sameness of opinion; it’s the sameness of agreement about the rules that let us live together. Think about the rules of the road. Some people like to drive fast, some slow. Some love big trucks, some drive little hybrids. None of that really matters so long as we all agree to stop at red lights and stay on our side [...]

2025-08-14T15:57:45-04:00

Tuesdays With Mary: The Mid-Year Goal Reset

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 We’re far enough into the year that January’s shiny optimism has dulled. The wall calendar has flipped more than a few pages, life’s curveballs have taken their swings, and those big, ambitious goals we set back in the cold months may be quietly collecting dust. Here’s the thing—now is a perfect time to dust them off, pick two or three that truly matter to you or to your organization, and commit to finishing them strong. Not “maybe.” Not “if I have time.” Make it known…to your team, your friends, your family—that you’re going to knock these [...]

2025-08-11T15:16:51-04:00

How to Know You’ve Stayed Somewhere Long Enough to Belong

Tuesday, August 5, 2025 There’s a moment, not marked on any calendar, when a place shifts from somewhere you’re in to somewhere you’re of. It doesn’t come with balloons or a banner. Most of the time, you don’t even notice it until after it’s already happened. You just look up one day and realize: Your co-worker’s last name that you used to have to effort through pronouncing just rolls smoothly off your tongue. You flick on the correct light switch in a series without even thinking. You know the shortcut that saves two stoplights, but only if you turn just [...]

2025-08-04T18:33:09-04:00

Tuesdays With Mary: The Things I No Longer Pretend to Care About

Tuesday, July 29, 2025 At a certain point in life, you stop pretending. You stop pretending you like kale. You stop pretending you want to attend that 8:00 p.m. event that “should only last a couple hours.” You stop pretending you’re excited about the group chat. Somewhere between your mid-40s and early 50s, a glorious shift happens: your Give-A-Damn meter breaks in all the right ways. So in the spirit of midlife clarity, here’s a short (but ever-growing) list of things I no longer pretend to care about: Uncomfortable clothes. If I have to shimmy, tug, suck in, or re-adjust [...]

2025-07-28T13:49:12-04:00

Tuesdays with Mary: When the Map No Longer Matches the Place

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 There’s a kind of disorientation that happens when you return to a place you once knew by heart — and realize your internal map doesn’t work anymore. I’m in my mother’s hometown this week. It’s the county seat where my maternal grandparents lived; my grandpa was the fire chief.  It’s where my siblings and cousins once spent Thanksgivings and summer stretches, where large family reunions were held at the fairgrounds, and where many of my core childhood memories seem to reside. It’s a place I still love, both for its own charm and for the people [...]

2025-07-30T11:44:42-04:00