Last week flew by again quickly. On Friday, my accountant/business advisor Juergen and I rather spontaneously organized a late, long lunch to review my 2006 books and a wide range of priorities for the next year. We sat in the garden of a lovely old mansion that serves as a "practice school" for students learning to operate five star restaurants and hotels. The students serve and cook. Their eagerness to get all of the details right - while occasionally getting them a little wrong in their nervousness - makes it absolutely charming to visit.
Friday was a sun-avoidance day. So hot that you absolutely needed to sit in the shade or roast. Juergen and I kept scooting our our table a little to the right and toward the flowers as the sun moved overhead. (There are no inside, air-conditioned options here. And anyway, it would have been a waste of a lovely summer day to be inside.)
It was me who asked twice to reorganize this discussion for other client meetings. It was Juergen who said that his last weeks required so much work that he hardly has time to think of anything else. He also owns his own business now for some years. He was ready for his two-week holiday to start, still one week away.
Yet we both sat in a garden on a Friday afternoon for lunch. Talked about business mostly from 1:30 - 4:00. Drank two glasses of wine. As we left, the waiters were resetting the tables for dinner. I spent a couple more hours in the office. Bet he did too.
This was the way that I was "officially" re-elected by my shareholders (Juergen and me) to be Managing Director for another year. It all feels a little more like living than some years earlier. I know this time of my life will pass by quickly, as well. And I know by now enough about myself and the world to savour it a little.
Comments