My Father Midas
A pleasant bit of news appeared in my Inbox
yesterday: my father announced that he and my
mother had bottled their first batch of wine. As I
wrote
previously, I had the opportunity to taste this
wine while it was still aging, and I have to say,
my father has done it again. The 2002 "Patriots"
Viognier (so named because it was pressed on the
first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks) will be a
palate-pleaser for friends and family, and who
knows—perhaps it will win an award at the
state fair.
My father has the Midas touch. He seems to
achieve success in everything he does. He marched
up the ranks at an underwater technology company,
starting as an engineer and eventually assuming the
role of company president. Not content with this
achievement, he gave it all up to start his own
underwater camera business in our garage. Expanding
into ever-larger offices, he built a worldwide
clientele and finally sold the company to retire to
the Central Coast wine country. Time to kick back?
No. He next devoted his energies to designing and
building a dream house, a project that reached
fruition in 1999. Did he now put his feet up and
relax? No. When most retirees would have spent
their days golfing, he learned a new craft.
Planting 200 vines and constructing a small winery,
he became a winemaker—from all indications so
far, a good one.
Is he lucky? Perhaps he finds a little luck
sprinkled here and there, but the recipe for his
success has been a tried-and-true blend of hard
work, drive and ambition. His work ethic is easily
summed up by a plaque that sat on his desk
throughout most of his career: "All things come to
he who waits, so long as he who waits works like
hell while he waits."
I consider myself fortunate (and proud) to have
such an example to emulate. I have not (yet)
achieved the same degree of success that my father
did by my age, but I have admittedly not worked as
hard either. But being raised by such a man taught
me that if it is to be, it is up to me. And
whenever I question whether fruitless efforts will
ever bear fruit, I remember the words of Thomas
Edison, which my father also proudly displayed on
his desk: "Many of life's failures are people who
did not realize how close they were to success when
they gave up."
Development note: I've
noticed that this site doesn't look like it should
in Netscape Navigator. Rather than waste time
jury-rigging it to look right in a
soon-to-be-obsolete browser, I'll just add the
cliché "This site best viewed with Internet
Explorer."
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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What is "The Daily Strick"?
I have long called
myself a writer, but too often I don't do
what a writer must do daily: write. So
you, dear reader, are the beneficiary of
my resolution to make a positive change in
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day of this new year, I will write
something, anything, and post it here. It
is my intention to use this daily exercise
to jump-start my too-long-dormant creative
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worthwhile material this year. Hopefully
you will find at least an occasional
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Today's
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Previously...
4/22:
Earth
Day
4/21:
Joshua
Tree, Part III
4/20:
Joshua
Tree, Part II
4/19:
Joshua
Tree, Part I
4/18:
Royal
Flush
4/17:
A
Long Strange Trip
4/16:
A
New Line to Back
4/15:
Still
Writing
4/14:
Conspiracy
Theory
4/13:
Los
Coronados
4/12:
Y2K
in Y2K3
4/11:
Slow
Glass
4/10:
Freedom
of Speech
4/9:
Why
We're Fighting
4/8:
Eucalyptus
Memories
4/7:
Sleep
4/6:
Writing,
Just Not Here
4/5:
Sci-Files
Trivia
4/4:
Sobering
Up
4/3:
Great
White Hope
4/2:
Entropy
4/1:
Peace
on Earth
Previous months in
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Archive
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