2009LodiCalifornia
Pepper. Alcohol. Oak. Baking spices (nutmeg? cinnamon?). In that order. Much better than whatever else I drank a few days ago that wasn't worth writing about. This had some personality. And some awesome baking spice scent up close. And a heluva kick, which I don't normally like. Not that I do tonight. I don't. But if you're looking for a wine with a kick - grab this. Loved the funky new twist on a twist-off cap. See pic below.
Before I begin, I have lost another dear person in my family that I cared for more than I knew I did. My grandmother's wonderful husband of only 4+ years passed away in a short period of time a couple of weeks ago. He was an incredibly classy, gentle, funny man. I respected him greatly and my grandmother was in love with him. They were beautiful and happy together. They made four years of bliss look like Heaven. My friends and colleagues stood in awe at my tales of their courtship and marriage and travels. Their time together was indeed short, but they packed decades of happiness into their limited time together. DD, thank you for the happiness you brought my grandmother. You will remain in our hearts forever.
For some reason today, an image popped in my head that hasn't been there for a long time. My parents divorced when I was 11. I had a really hard time with it. I dealt with it. I moved on a bit. Then I heavily reminisced for a few years that made me feel very nostalgic and sad - every song from that time period would bring me right back to it. Then I eventually stopped reminiscing and moved on with my own life and just figured all that time spent feeling nostalgic and sad was for a reason - like it was a rite of passage I had to go through in order for me to get to the next phase of my life.
Not long after my parents separated, I was in the car with my mother and we were visiting old friends that she and my dad were friends with when they were together and our families congregated. We were leaving their house and we'd reached the end of the road and were turning to head back to the road to take us home to our house, an hour away now. We passed a house that I couldn't help noticing. It was dark wooden, rustic - slightly haunted looking, yet something about it I liked. It had a bit of junk in the front, but it was big, and I loved the woodeness to it - there were various shades of natural planks making up the house and it gave me an interesting feeling to look at it - not scared, not sad, just a feeling like I had a connection to that house - it made me want to be there. In spite of its degradation, it wasn't really old - just in need of TLC. My mother at that moment as I was silently taking it in at my younger age exclaimed that she and my dad had contemplated buying that house a couple of years ago before separating. I remember thinking in my head: "I sure wish you'd bought it." As I sat at my desk today at work, that image shot into my head and I was filled with a longing for a life that never happened - a corner that wasn't turned and every path changed course from that point on. I felt sure that if they had purchased that house and fixed it up like they had once discussed, my life would have turned out much differently - maybe more happily.
As I began to write tonight, I turned on my Pandora as usual and two songs affected me, back to back, compelling me to write verse from two separate songs. So, here they are, in honor of my memories and my deepest thoughts and reflections today, and in all of their irony:
How can you say, Forever is at your command?
How can you say, The future is in the palm, in the palm of your hand?
When the house was standing,
You'd never have believed it,
When the house was standing,
You'd never have believed...
That gaping hole was once a foundation,
Where you stand now were tools in a basement, And...
How can you say, Forever is at your command?
How can you say, The future's in the palm, in the palm of your hand?
--Palm of Your Hand--
by Cake
So I wanna live in a wooden house,
where making more friends would be easy.
Oh, and I don´t have a soul to save.
Yes, and I sin every single day.
We never change, do we?
We never learn, do we?
So I wanna live in a wooden house,
Where making more friends would be easy.
I wanna live where the sun comes out ...
--We Never Change--
by Coldplay
$13/ 750 ml. bottle
15% alcohol by vol.
8.0 out of 10
