The Wonder Woman mug of coffee has stopped steaming and is now the perfect amount of hotness to sip while thinking about the sips from last night’s glass along with a quote from a cherished classic movie.
“I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining, if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day”. ~Maya from the movie Sideways.
I have recently begun to think more about the people who were born in that same year. How old are they now? Where has life taken them, what have they experienced?
I like to think about how grateful I am for the vision years ago of getting three bottles of wine from the years my children were born to give to them on their 21st birthdays. I like to remember how little they were then, how young I was too, and how very much would fill our lives in the years between then and now.
I like to think about the feeling of gifting my beloved a 2001 bottle of Cabernet for her 21st birthday. The feeling of pushing into a soft, crumbly cork, a delicate extraction, and the first sniff of the dark bridge between past and present.
I like to think about the ‘99 that was gifted to another beloved, which remains unopened, awaiting it’s special occasion. Who will it be shared with? How has the young man who it belongs to grown into his adulthood?
I like to think about the ‘02 that is still in the box, waiting for 2023 and it’s turn to be gifted. Where will we all be then? How different will our lives be? What will remain the same?
I like to think back on the gifter. How she’s transformed over time. How, like the wine, she has aged and grown in depth and complexity, and unlike the ‘61 that Miles and Maya talked about in Sideways, she has not yet peaked, but she’s getting close.
I would like to raise a glass, or a mug of now cold coffee, to all of the mamas out there, doing a million little things to hold it all together, trying to see through the tough days to the light at the end of the tunnel.
May you all have the gift of looking into your beloved’s eyes on their 21st birthday and saying a cheers to them, but also to you. Because a strong family is like a good Pinot: “…hard to grow, as you know. It’s thin skinned and temperamental. It’s not a survivor like Cabernet that can grow anywhere and thrive even when neglected. Pinot needs constant care and attention, you know”. ~ Miles from the movie Sideways
Cheers to the alchemy and the mystery that is in every life, and in every bottle of wine.
And thank you to Maya and Miles for delivering some of the best wine movie lines ever.
