\u00a0 <\/p>\n
I can remember the time that I was known as “Sid Winston’s Son”.\u00a0 Yesterday I was known as “Zack Winston’s Father”.\u00a0 It wasn’t the first time either.\u00a0 And now that I think about… I have also been “Shaina’s Dad” or “Suzy’s Dad”… Part of life, I guess.<\/p>\n
It’s better now.<\/p>\n
Let’s face it… part of who we are is defined by our connection to others.\u00a0 We’re this one’s son, that one’s brother, this person’s friend, that girl’s Father & so on.\u00a0 Hopefully that connection is a positive one.<\/p>\n
My Father cut an impressive swath in front of me.\u00a0 He had a larger than life personality.\u00a0 He loved the “stage”.\u00a0 He “played” to an audience… it could be one, it could be ten.\u00a0 Even before I knew him in business, he charmed the pants off of my friends.<\/p>\n
Well… you know how it is… as a kid you don’t appreciate this stuff.\u00a0 In fact, it’s a bit embarrassing, it’s a bit intimidating.\u00a0 How can you follow in those foot steps?\u00a0 For a shy kid like me, sometimes it was actually saddening.<\/p>\n
Then you join your Father in business.\u00a0 It’s no longer girls in 8th Grade telling you how cool your Dad is… it’s Tom Watson, Board Chair of I.B.M., or Bill Hewitt, Board Chair of John Deere & Co., or Jack Dorrance, Board Chair of Campbell Soup, or Roy Chapin, President of American Motors, or Lew Foy, President of Bethlehem Steel, or Cary Grant… all customers of ours, all telling me how great my Dad is…<\/p>\n
And that was just the beginning… all of the folks in the “Trade”… Manufacturers, Fabric Merchants & the like who praised Dad’s taste and skill\u00a0in building a business from the ground up.<\/p>\n
It’s all part of the maturing process, I suppose… what embarrassed me at age 12, slowly was converted to a source of pride.\u00a0 It wasn’t necessarily a smooth path to that pride… I fought it at times, and in some respects, continue to fight it today.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
But you get to certain junctions… you get to that “door”.\u00a0 Yes, I recognized that the door had been opened to me because of my Father… that I was be given the benefit of doubt<\/em> because of my Father.<\/p>\n And folks, I have learned that there few things in life as valuable as the benefit of the doubt.\u00a0 In much, my Dad gave that<\/em> to me… served up like a juicy fastball right over homeplate.<\/p>\n I am not saying that I always enjoyed living in his shadow.\u00a0 But there came a time\u00a0when I emerged from that shadow… but even more important, there came the time that I could appreciate both the light and shadow of the figure he cast… and there came\u00a0that time when I had a better understanding of where I stood.<\/p>\n Yesterday was a different venue, different experience… there was a different person blazing a trail for me — it was Zack.\u00a0 Yesterday, I was Zack’s Dad.\u00a0 Yesterday I drove to the fleshpots of New York City.\u00a0 Yesterday I put together a Wine Tasting for Harris Beach, the Law Firm where Zack worked ’til moving to the other coast.\u00a0 The invitation to conduct the Tasting wouldn’t have been extended if it hadn’t been for Zack’s presence (even in absentia<\/em>).<\/p>\n What can I say? The Tasting went very well.\u00a0 I wish I had a nickel for everyone who came up and told me how highly they thought of Zack… and how much they missed him<\/p>\n I had a clear drive back to Connecticut… the FDR, the Major Deegan, the Cross County, the Hutch & the Merritt all lay open to me… absent annoying traffic.\u00a0 Good time for thinking.<\/p>\n I have decided that at my age I am a quick study on this “pride thing”.\u00a0 It took me a bit to warm up to being “Sid’s Son”… it’s easier by miles being Zack’s, or Shaina’s, or Suzy’s Dad.<\/p>\n My kids are great.\u00a0 They are a continuing source of pride to me.\u00a0 And if the occasion arises and if they open up a door for me… it’s a good thing.<\/p>\n It’s really a whole lot better now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 I can remember the time that I was known as “Sid Winston’s Son”.\u00a0 Yesterday I was known as “Zack Winston’s Father”.\u00a0 It wasn’t the first time either.\u00a0 And now that I think about… I have also been “Shaina’s Dad” … Continue reading