Today marks my first real day in the office in quite a while. Several weeks of planes, trains and automobiles. There was a brief vacation shoved in there, but for the most part, @lkjohannesmeyer and I have been away from home in some shape or fashion showing demonstrations and extolling the vision behind Spring to our population of SE client leadership.

The reason this is momentous is that as these visits come to a close, we’re entering a new phase in the process of creating Spring. What phase? Well, I’d call it the second trimester in a way. We know we’re going to have a baby, we have a little baby bump and we’re really excited about shopping for clothes and toys but there’s a ton of work to be done. Let’s stick with this (almost inappropriate) metaphor for a second…

The team here at Solid Earth have now gone out to our customers and made the announcement widely. We’re having a baby!

The reaction has been pretty varied. They’ve ranged from, “Good for you… so what’s for dinner?” all the way to, “Great… what color are its eyes?” Where is it going to college?” And there you have the real challenge. All those questions have answers. Some are apparent now and some are not. But for the excited family, the sooner those answers are available, the better.

So, as you can see, we’ve been focused on making sure everyone is aware of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and what they can expect as all this work gets done; as this delivery date begins to come into focus. Talking about what our adult child will look like at this early stage is certainly not an easy task. But consider that to some people, we’re late. To others, the innovations represented by Spring may be too soon.

Just look around your own office. You’ll see people who are super-techy and those who are, um, not. You’ve got the girl wearing Google Goggles uploading cat videos. You’ve also got the guy with the flip phone and the AOL email address. This is the population we serve. Unlike many professions, the real estate community is a cross-section of the larger society, with all those permutations in culture, experience and varying technology appetites.

Some are counting the seconds to get their hands on the “next big thing” and others (lots of others) are more than content with the status quo. But our job is clear. To keep with the baby metaphor, the growing process is in high gear. We’re not just a little pregnant. This thing is happening and now everyone in our family knows about it and I’m happy to say, pretty excited.

As proud parents, myself and the rest of the team are eager to show Spring to everyone, but we’re careful, too. It’s a baby and it’s not fully developed but it’s growing amazingly quickly. Those that saw it at Midyear won’t believe their eyes in Orlando.

Yes, there are questions and concerns about a huge range of things. Also as parents, we’re over-the-top cautious about potential pitfalls and are covering every base to insure this bundle of joy is delivered successfully and with 10 fingers and 10 toes.

So, thanks for having us in your offices Solid Earth family. We can’t wait to show you the next phase. I’m craving pickles.