| Given my predilection to that most leisurely sin -- sloth | | | | Though I enjoyed those summer nights as a young |
| -- I must come clean and make it clear that I am not | | | | man, I did not truly come to appreciate the yacht cruise |
| corporate material. In fact, I have tried to make a go of | | | | until I had to withstand the withering glances of an |
| it in the corporate world -- and despite my father's | | | | entire workforce, convinced -- rightly so -- of my |
| highest hopes, I failed. Granted, it's easy to fall flat on | | | | incompetence. Perhaps it was because I could not turn |
| your face when you father owns the company. Let's | | | | to any friends or family members that night, but I I |
| slate this to a failure of nepotism and my own | | | | found myself entranced by the ocean, the breeze, the |
| reticence to delegate to subordinates who were far | | | | way the coast drifted by as evening fell. A tumbler of |
| more qualified that me. Now, given my utter corporate | | | | Scotch in one hand, the other gripping the rail, I did not |
| failure, I must say my six months in the workforce did | | | | know then that what was happening was something |
| bring me one of my most precious joys. | | | | deep, dark, and utter delirious. |
| My father -- a rather sentimental fellow -- has made it | | | | Now -- well...now I write. Not because I have to, but |
| a tradition to host an annual corporate yacht charter | | | | because I'm compelled to. So, when a task appears in |
| wherein the men and women who dedicate eight | | | | my electronic mail box, I have the blessed option of |
| hours of every weekday to him can unwind and | | | | accepting it as a mission impossible -- or not. When I'm |
| mingle. This summer wind of relaxation always comes | | | | compelled to wax philosophic about cruises and |
| as a welcome break from the usual pace of business. | | | | yachts and drifting about at sea, well, what can I say? |
| I recall attending these yacht parties as a young man, | | | | As Sinatra croons about summer breezes lingering, I |
| honored to be amongst the best and brightest of my | | | | find myself enraptured and somehow, oddly, a bit sad. |
| father's cadre. Surprisingly, there was a sharp | | | | Yes, even raconteurs get the blues. A toast, then, to |
| difference between attending as a family member as | | | | the boats -- the big boats -- that take us away and |
| opposed to a lackluster employee. | | | | set us adrift on placid waves and heady dreams. |