A holiday tradition for me every year is to watch one of my all time favorite movies, "It's a Wonderful Life." It is during the closing scene of this movie that I'm always reminded how thankful I am for my family and all of my great friends. As with George Bailey, I always come to the conclusion that I really do have a wonderful life. With that thought in mind I'm posting this special 3 part holiday prattle. (Keep in mind that I write these prattles more for my own personal records than I do for the people who actually bother to read my mindless musings)
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Part 1 - Why is my life wonderful?
Those who have seen this popular Jimmy Stewart movie are probably saying "I know George Bailey and Paul Peterson is no George Bailey." At first glance I would probably have to agree with these nay-sayers because on paper my life doesn't appear to be all that wonderful.
If I were ever to write a Christmas letter I would have a hard time telling anything very interesting about my life. When it comes to the normal topics covered in these type of Christmas letters I come up pretty empty in terms of things to tell.....check out my list....
Wife - no
Kids - none
Interesting job - no (maybe only to the world of technology geeks)
Job promotions - none
Exotic trips - none
New house - no
New lake cabin - no
New boat - no
OUCH....that list hurts....
After reviewing my list you probably see why I don't write Christmas letters. This little exercise helps me understand the value of getting married and having kids...it's basically gives you something to always talk and write about...(I realize that I'm just ahead of my time in terms of my single life style...in 100 years everybody will live like me....I'm just a pioneer blazing a trail for future generations).
As weak as my list of accomplishments appears to be I do however have 3 items that I need to add to my list.....I call it the "Triple F" list.
"Triple F"
1. Family
2. Friends
3. Fellowship
I know....I know....You're saying....What?.......how do these 3 things make up for all of the "No's" on my previous list?
This is a good question and maybe not everyone will agree with me but I think that having meaningful relationships along with having fellowship with your family and friends is the key to having a wonderful life. I may delusional but at a least I feel happy about my life.....(even though it appears to be screwed up most of the time).
To further expand on the importance of fellowship and relationships in a person's life I will provide the results of the following 2 studies:
Fellowship Study #1
This study compared these two type of people:
-Group 1 - No exercise, eats unhealthy foods, has regular fellowship with friends and family.
-Group 2 - Exercises regularly, eats only healthy foods, has no fellowship with friends or family.
-Result of study - Group # 1 was found to be much happier with their lives, more well adjusted and they actually live longer than Group #2.
-Morale of the story - You are better off hanging out with your buddies eating Twinkies than you are if you stay at home alone, work out every day and eat nothing but fruits and vegetables.
Fellowship Study #2
A study was done that showed the common characteristics of all mass murderers are as follows:
-Loners
-No friends
-Lost contact with their family
-No meaningful relationships
Result of study - The lack of fellowship along with having no meaningful relationships were found to be the root causes of this violent behavior.
Morale of the story - Hanging out with your buddies saves lives.
Summary
George Bailey's guardian angel, Clarence, pretty much summed up my beliefs when he wrote the following note in the book he gave to George.."No man is a failure who has friends."
To further expand on the words of wisdom from Clarence.....
-I'm blessed with a great family many quality friends
-I help save lives
-I help make people happier with their lives
-I help people live longer lives
-My friends and family make me a happier person
-My friends and family help me to live a longer life
-I'm a successful person because I do have many friends (thanks Clarence).
(I know...if I had a wife and kids it would be even more wonderful....but I have to work with what I got)
I rest my case.
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Part 2 - How do I keep my life wonderful?
In order to develop and maintain my Triple F lifestyle I have been social networking long before this term was used to describe the use of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. I think all of these new ways of connecting with people are great and I fully endorse their use. However, I'm an old school Norwegian and I still prefer to stay in touch with my friends and family the old fashioned way. I've been taught that all change is bad so don't look for me to adopt the use of social media any time soon. A quick comparison of the current social media options versus the "Palmer Networking" options are as follows:
Social Media Palmer Networking
Facebook Face-to-Face
Tweet Talk
Text Call
LinkedIn Meet me on the "Links"
Followers "Worlds" of Friends
Friends Lists/Profiles Venn Diagram*
*I was never very good in math but for some reason I always liked geometry and I fell in love with Venn Diagrams. I'm therefore always looking for an excuse to use these diagrams and in this case I'm using one to illustrate how all my "worlds" of friends fit together. The Venn diagram shown below provides the following:
1. Identifies my 9 different worlds of friends
2. Illustrates the wide variety of my worlds
3. Reveals that there is very little cross-over of my worlds
The take home message here is that all of my "Worlds" are pretty much separate from each other. This therefore creates many opportunities for me to have fellowship with several unrelated groups and many different people. (and you already know the importance of having fellowship).
My goal is to stay in contact with all of the people from these 9 different worlds and see them in person on a regular basis. (My Worlds - Zumbrota, Concordia, Softball, Wednesday night basketball, Sunday night basketball, Twin City people, Norstan, Black Box, Twin Valley)
Venn Diagram - Palmer's Worlds
I attempted to bring all of the these "worlds" together a couple of years ago when I invited them to attend my special birthday party. The name of this party was "World's Colliding" becasue it was going to be the first time that I was bringing all my worlds together in one place.
The reason this was a special birthday party is as follows:
-Birth date: 5-4
-Birth year: 54
-Age: 54
-Start time of the party: yes, you guessed it...5:54 pm
Even though there was not a large turnout due to the mid week date and the early start time in Maple Grove, I did mange to have someone from 8 of my 9 worlds represented. It was a little stressful for me but in the end the party was considered to be a success.
In an effort to come up with some new options for fellowship I made what I called "an investment in friendship" last spring. I went in with a group of 8 guys who purchased and shared Twins season tickets for the first year at Target Field - 4 seats for every home game.
This partnership allowed me to have 4 seats to 10 games which I then used to entertain friends from all my "worlds". It turned out to be a very wise investment because I was able to rekindle many old friendships at these games.
My buddies started to call me a "friendship broker" because I was able to bring together groups of old friends who had not seen each other for several years. It took some serious planning and coordination to always bring 3 people from the same world together for each game....but it was well worth it in the end.
As the American Express commercial says...
-4 seats for 10 games - $2,000
-Parking fee for 10 games = $130
-Food and drink for 10 games - $300
-A day at the ball park with my buddies - Priceless
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| Concordia College World |
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| Zumbrota World |
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| Tri-fecta Worlds..Twin Cities - Norstan - Zumbrota |
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| Wednesday Night Basketball World |
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| Concordia College World |
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| Twin Cities World |
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| Creating New Worlds |
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| Concordia College World |
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| Tri-fecta - Softball - Norstan - Black Box |
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| Zumbrota World |
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| Concordia College World |
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| Zumbrota World |
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| Twin Cities World (Peterson Cousins) |
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| Expanding My Worlds |
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| Zumbrota World |
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| Sunday Night Basketball World - Part 1 |
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| Sunday Night Basketball - Part 2 |
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| Zumbrota World |
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| Exploring other solar systems |
As you can see, I saved some lives this year.
