From: Eileen

To: All Staff

Hi, people! Having a lovely time in Greece with my son. And his new wife, of course. Who knew this adventure would be such a hoot?

On our first morning, we explored the Acropolis. So majestic and inspiring. You really have to experience it in person. The birthplace of Western civilization, right? Hannah, his wife, wanted to do early check-in instead, can you believe it? She claimed to be exhausted from the overnight flight and the wedding. Is it me, or doth the lady protest too much?

After two days in the capital, I chartered a boat to take the three of us through the islands en route to Santorini, where I booked a cabana on a secluded beach. Such a charming place. We have been taking our morning coffee on the veranda and filling the days with excursions to ancient temples of Apollo, strolling along the shoreline, and candlelit dinners.

Hannah has mostly been good company, except for trying to sleep in some mornings, and occasionally—well, repeatedly, to be honest—suggesting that she and my son might want to do a few things on their own. To the point where it became necessary to remind her, gently, as to who is paying for everything.

In case you’re wondering about the wedding, it went fine. It had to be held in Baltimore, because that’s where Hannah is from, of all places. But it was fine, really. The harbor area is better than you would think.

I received lots of compliments on my gown. Thank you to everyone who helped me brainstorm that one. In the end, going with ivory was certainly the right call. Burgundy would have been far too subdued, especially for a summer wedding. And, to those concerned about the risk of a red wine spill, I am happy to report that we escaped unscathed.

The ceremony turned out to be quite touching, if I do say so myself. We had a little trouble finding a mutually-agreeable officiant, so I stepped up. As several of you know, I had to jump through hoops to get a special license to allow me to conduct the proceedings. I really didn’t mind, as Hannah and her parents seemed to have their hands more than full arranging the reception, catering, flowers, photographer, and so on. I offered to supervise all of it, to put my organizational prowess and exquisite taste to good use, but it was like pulling teeth to get them to change anything. They did meet me halfway on the entrée selections—I’ll give them that much.

Naturally, it fell to me to pull my son and Hannah off the dance floor so we could catch our flight to Athens. I don’t like flying red-eye either, but that was just the way the itinerary happened to work out. After all, I have a division to run. I can only step away from my professional responsibilities for so many days at a time. Hopefully everyone is holding it together until I return.

For your enjoyment, I am enclosing a selection of photos from the trip. My favorites are the ones of my son and me admiring the marble sculptures of the Parthenon, engaged in deep conversation on the prow of the charter boat—doesn’t he look so handsome in that white fitted shirt?—and swimming together in the Aegean at sunset. But look over the whole collection and decide for yourselves. Overall, Hannah is improving as a photographer, I have to admit.

We overnight in Paris on the way back. Surprise treat for Hannah, who has never been. I really don’t want this trip to end, as you can imagine, but of course I am looking forward to being back in the office managing all of you and guiding the team to success on our many projects, as well as supporting and cheering on my husband now that he has started chemo.