Drink The Nice Bottle Of Wine

I do not know about you, but Andrew and I would always save our nice and expensive bottles of wine and champagne for special occasions. Back in the day before kids, we loved making quick trips to Napa, CA and enjoyed the winery experience. Many times, it was just the two of us who went and sometimes we went with friends as well. The Napa area was one of our absolute favorite places to go and the Napa Valley County Club was the place we got married and vowed to spend the rest of our lives together, whether in sickness and in health. Our favorite snack while enjoying wine in Napa, was eating a sourdough baguette, Parmesan cheese, and fresh sliced salami. We would find a nice shaded picnic table and eat until our bellies were full and we were ready to go to another winery.

Andrew taught me so much about the proper etiquette of wine tasting while on one of our many wine trips. For example, swirling the wine around in the glass before tasting so more air could get to it. He was so fast at twirling his glass, at times I thought the wine was going to swirl right out of it. He also taught me how to take a giant sniff of the wine before taking a drink. He loved explaining how he knew a red wine was a good wine by gauging how many legs it had after swirling it. Andrew loved Cabernet Sauvignon the best but also liked Chianti and red blends. So, after all our trips, Andrew and I would come home as new members of yet another winery. For a few years, we had so many bottles of wine delivered to our house on a monthly and quarterly basis that we had to cancel some as we kept adding new ones.

We saved our good bottles from our collection, for special days in our lives. We usually opened one of these bottles when one of us received a promotion, when we bought our first house, on our wedding anniversary, and those typical celebratory occasions. After a while, we had so many good bottles stashed and resorted to drinking a lesser expensive bottle because we started waiting for a really, really good occasion to open one. At some point, a promotion was expected and not a true celebration, because we kept wanting more. We did not feel like this justified opening the good bottle and that an average bottle would be fine. We would say, “Let’s save this one for something better or more important.” Had I have known where we would be today, we should have drunk the nice bottle of wine when we had the chance. Now that Andrew is gone and not here to drink these bottles with me, I still hesitate before I open one. Each of the labels bring back tons of memories from each trip we were able to enjoy with each other. I think to myself, “Is there a good reason why I should open this bottle and waste this wine?” I shake my head and say, “Yes I do,” because I just made it through another day, as hard as it was, without him.

I opened our wine fridge the other day and I found only two bottles of wine that are considered an everyday bottle. All the other bottles of wine laying on the shelves were nice bottles. I started crying because I cannot drink these nice bottles of wine with Andrew anymore. We saved these bottles of wine for years and years, just waiting for the perfect occasion. So many perfect occasions came and went but we did not really see it as that. We were so busy with life, kids, and careers, we forgot to celebrate what was most important. The more money we made, the more money we wanted. The more things we had, the more things we wanted. What we had at times, was not enough. It was not enough to celebrate by drinking the nice bottle of wine.

My advice to you, is to drink whatever bottle of wine you want. There is no reason to save them and wait for some special occasion. Celebrate that you made it through a really tough day. Celebrate those special memories or milestones. Celebrate the gift of living because you never know when you are going to enjoy that final glass of wine. Does it really matter how many bottles of nice wine you have when you are in Heaven? Who cares? Just drink the bottle of wine, and do not feel guilty.

Maybe you do not drink, so think if there is anything else that you put off, waiting for that perfect opportunity to arise. Why wait for that perfect day or opportunity to come, because what if it is too late for you to do whatever it is you are dreaming of? Celebrate you and your life at this moment. Be proud for what you have accomplished and look forward to so many of the amazing opportunities which lay in front of you. Cheers to you, me and to our journey of life; however bumpy or smooth it may be at times, because life is too short to have regrets.