Tradition moves down the line
/My father worked for the same company for about 35 years in Manhattan. For the first half, he was downtown. First at 30 Broad Street, then at 45 Broadway. I worked in the 45 Broadway office with the same company early in my career. Now I’m only a few blocks away in what was commonly known as World Financial Center and is now sterilely, corporately called Brookfield Place. But long before my professional life resided downtown and long before I went to the city for personal fun, I’d travel there on occasion with my dad. Take your kid to work day was preceded by take your son to work day which was preceded by my dad just taking me there for no apparent reason.
I’d spend the day in the office hanging out. No iPads or computers. Presumably I had coloring books, but mostly I remember “socializing” with his co-workers, many of whom became my own co-workers years later. I knew them all. One such colleague started working for my father when I was a baby and he fondly recalls me hiding under the dining room table in our Queens home. That same guy was in attendance at my wedding 30+ years later. There were key components to my visits. The most notable of which was lunch. We’d walk to Battery Park at the southern most tip of the island. We’d get a hot dog from a cart vendor and a Yoo-Hoo. We’d walk around Castle Clinton and I’d climb on “The Immigrants” sculpture.
Now it’s 2019, I have a son the age I was when I first went to work with my dad. I have relationships with co-workers not dissimilar to the ones my dad had. There are many similarities, including the Manhattan neighborhood. And today marked a true coming of age moment as I took Nicky to work with me. I asked him 2 days ago if he wanted to come with me today and he woke up each morning excitedly asking me “are we going to work?” Today I woke up to torrents of rain and tried to give Nicky a literal rain check, but he wouldn’t have it. It was work day. So be it. We followed the normal route - driving down 280 to Harrison. Jumping on the PATH train to the World Trade Center and walking to the office - first stopping for a bagel (a rare “carby” treat for me these days).
When we arrived, the office stopped in its tracks. The Olapic-Internet famous #NickyT had arrived. And he held up his end of the bargain waving and saying hi to everyone. Nicky turns on the charm when people are nice to him. We set him up at a vacant desk across from mine with his rainbow bagel, apple juice, and some of his toys from his backpack. People filtered in and I had an office of babysitters that allowed me to actually get some work done for the day. Throughout the hours he’d wander back to me to see what’s up or ask for something. Mostly he hung out in our big, pod, egg chairs or colored at lunch tables with my office manager, or played on his iPad. I got reports that he was plied with candy from some and he even solicited quarters from others to use on the vending machine. I even took him to meet my friend at the in-house Peloton store in our lobby, who follows him on Instagram and still has his Christmas card hanging up.
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate for a Battery Park trip of our own, but we’ll try again. At some point in the day I tried to view Nicky as my toddler/child self through my father’s eyes and I realized how similar the scene must have been. Did my dad watch me from a distance as I roamed his home away from home with his second family? Knowing my dad’s nature, I suspect he did.
I packed up his things and we headed home. He spent most of the trip asleep, replenishing the energy he depleted from all the work he accomplished at the office. To cap off the day, we made one stop on the way home to eat. For the first time in his short life, I took him to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal figuring on a special day unlike most others, we could eat something out of the ordinary. And it gave us more alone time to complete the Daddy/Nicky day from breakfast to lunch to dinner.
As I commuted with a zonked out Nick Nick I thought about the day and the full circle nature of it. In that moment I was so proud of so many things. Of my dad for being the world class model for how a dad should be and giving me these memories, but also for doing it repeatedly enough that it instilled such a sense of community around the workplace. I saw so much of that today when everyone leapt at the chance to get Nicky a snack or even take him to the restroom. I trusted them and so did Nicky, even meeting some for the first time.
I was proud of myself. My dad was the end all, be all of what I wanted to be. Not necessarily finance but the whole image. We certainly dress differently. He in a suit with a briefcase (or valise) and me in t-shirt and jeans with a Timbuk2 messenger bag. But he went off to New York City which was awe inspiring as a kid and worked hard and did well and gave me a life I can only describe as Rockwellian and iconic. I’ve worked so hard to pay that forward and sitting with my son, in my office, in the same neighborhood, at a similar tier on the corporate ladder I felt quite content if not complete.
I was especially proud of my Nick. I don’t feel the meaning was lost on him. He looked wide-eyed at the building and exclaimed “We are in New York City, daddy!” and throughout the day said he just wanted to watch me work. He’s been verbally affectionate lately, more than ever before, and proclaimed that often today. I can only assume he felt especially connected to me in today’s circumstances. Perhaps I’m overzealous in assigning meaning to his actions at 3-years old, but they were distinctly unique.
What you can take to the bank is that by 8:15pm, my heart is full. We are home and relaxing before bed. Tomorrow will be just another day, back to normal in the office alone. They’ll all ask, tongue in cheek, where Nicky is and this will be a memory. For everyone, it’s a fun visit. For me it’s an important moment etched into the annals of fatherhood.
Oh… I almost forgot about the blanket and pillow fort he built at the office with the help of one of the guys on my team. #OlaFam
