Gerhard Ade covers Real Estate around Seattle and more.

If your life were a book, how many chapters would it have, and what would you name them? What if the book was about 2021? One condition: palaver about politics and the pandemic is not permitted. We have had our fill of both.

As I swipe through the months of 2021 on my iPhone, three events stand out. In chronological order, they are the listing of a Bellevue luxury home, a reunion with friends, and the death of my father-in-law. The chapters are business, travel, and family. The verse? Read on.

I was only 14 when I decided not to pursue a career in accounting. Instead, I set my sights on becoming a graphic designer.

Early influencers

How did I decide that? One of my teachers, Herr Schmidt, declared that I was never going to be good at math. The other, Herr Hengstler, told me that my artistic talents were remarkable. Especially in our formative years, we are easily influenced.

In college, the man who influenced me the most was Armin Hofmann. He taught graphic design at the School of Applied Arts in Basel, Switzerland.  I was one of nine students in the four-year master’s class. Upon graduation, he told me to take my portfolio to Munich, where my first job awaited me. It was that easy.