Piatelli Construction

       Over the weekend, I stayed in an old Boston hotel that used to be called The Bradford. It’s a Marriott Courtyard now, in the theatre district right across from the Wang Center.
       My family has a history with that hotel. Back in the mid 1980’s, my dad and a few partners were thinking about buying the hotel and renovating it. I remember accompanying my father to those business meetings at that hotel. I was fresh out of college, very green, busting with pride to be helping my dad, and observing how some big boys operated. The deal didn’t work out, but Piatelli Construction ended up doing some work on the place before another group took it over. For that phase, my dad didn’t need me in the boardroom but in the bathroom - of the hotel - so I worked with the demo crew. My sister Cheryl got a very cool brass water fountain from the old Bradford.
       I miss my dad a lot these days. I miss him a lot most days, actually, but something in particular is up between me and him right now. He’s trying to tell me something. Either something I haven’t heard before, or something I haven’t been able to hear before.
       Dad’s aura was all over that hotel last weekend. I felt it. I felt him. It was actually a little surreal. Aside from going to the old Roxy nightclub, I hadn’t been in that hotel since I ripped mirrors and such off the walls many years ago. My dad was still alive then.
       When I think about my dad and his construction company, I remember that I felt that he, and it, would be around forever. Piatelli Construction was as much a part of my life, as my whole family’s life, as any person. It was like the great container that we all navigated the world through. Manned by my father, it gave us all so much; it would be impossible for me to imagine my earlier life without it. It was like my third parent.
       It saddens me that the company no longer exists. That none of us took it over and continued the legacy. My dad was okay with that, however. At least he said he was. He always wanted his kids to do what we wanted for work, not what he wanted. That point was made clear to all of us again and again, and I know it was sincere. And yet, I can’t help but think he would have loved to see one of his sons take the company over. Then again, knowing dad had some serious control issues, especially around his business, maybe not. I’m sure he had mixed emotions over the whole thing.
       The legacy of my dad and Piatelli Construction are inexorably entwined. They both made a huge difference in so many people’s lives. I wonder what my legacy will be. I don’t ponder that question in the future tense. I understand that whatever my legacy will be, it’s determined by the choices I make, by the actions I take, now. Today. This moment. And I want to make a difference in people’s lives. Now. Today. This moment.
       So I’m listening dad. Speak to me. At no other time in my life have I had my ear more to the wind of my own heart. Your heart was your greatest gift. Yes, your head was magnificent, but it was your heart that drove you to be the man you were. The man so loved, so deeply, by so many.
       Especially this son.      

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