Happens Chance: Random Lessons of Life

There are many life lessons to learn: some more important than others. Among the most important is that relationships, friends, family, business, etc are among the most critical.
Sometimes when you are pretty confident and excited, the forces of life converge to remind you of your, minor place in the Universe. Humility is a great thing. No one has ever gotten anywhere without help from others. Sometimes funny things just happen.

The National Association of Realtors has approximately 1.4 million members in the Fifty States and 4 U.S. Territories. This past week over 30000 Realtors met in Las Vegas for their National Convention and to celebrate the beginning of the organization’s Centennial Year. Yes, the National Association of Realtors was formed 100 years ago in Chicago. Its purpose was to improve the professional and ethics of ‘brokers and agents.’
This year a good friend of mine, Richard Gaylord of Long Beach, California, (also a fellow 2003 Regional Vice President), was installed at the President. The position is a one year voluntary position. Over 2500 Realtors were on hand for his pledge.

When my wife and I arrived in Las Vegas there were some problems with our registrations. Our tickets to the Installation and International Night had been already picked up. There was actually no concern about it because NAR senior staff is always ‘taking care of logistics’ for volunteer leaders. Staff advised me that we were at table 11. You should also know that the other 2003 Regional Vice Presidents were going to be seated at tables 11 and 12. When we arrive, RVP Carole Horn said that she ‘needed’ to introduce me to someone. As I glanced, there no seats at the table for us, but I followed Carole’s lead: “Ron Phipps, I would like to introduce you to Ron Phipps and his wife Jenny”. Ok…I thought I misheard. Excuse me; you are Ron Phipps, too? Ronald J. Phipps is a Century 21 Agent in Las Vegas Nevada. Obviously, Rhode Island is my home State. The moment was awkward as we did not have enough seats. My namesake offered to move to another table, but convenience prevailed. Two of my RVP classmates moved to the next table and we made room for the 2 Ron Phipps families. The conversation that followed as really quite enjoyable. We compared family histories and shared contact information. Strangely enough, neither of us knew our family history with any real precision beyond three generations back.

The other Ron and his wife are moving back to her homeland in Singapore in two months. The odds that we will see each other again are in fact remote, but what we did was uncover a relationship that we did not know. We have exchanged emails and thanked each other for a delightful evening. It was in every sense of the word happens-chance, a chance meeting for both of us. But it cannot help but remind you that we are all related. Maybe it is 6 degrees in the rest of the world and less than 3 degrees in Rhode Island, but we are at the end of the day ‘connected.’

But there is in classic fashion was more. My fellow RVP’s wanted to remind me, that despite my advancement in NAR leadership, that my replaced was already in the wings.
Ronald L. Phipps.