Does Drinking Wine Alone ...Make You an Alcoholic?

I hope not. Today when I arrived home, I should have cooked some supper, but I don’t like eating alone. I opened the refrigerator, and there… sitting on the top shelf …beckoning to me was a wonderful Wolf Blass chardonnay, well chilled, originally for another purpose… but still sitting there all the same. I looked at it twice, shut the door and started to putter around the kitchen pretending I didn’t see it. BUT, I did see it. And … I AM mentally exhausted… and… alone, not a bad thing, but still… alone. Oh hell, I opened it. Poured it into a funky wine glass, and as I was about to take my first gulp, the phone rang. YES! The call I was waiting for!! Carrying the treasured, sinful, amber liquid to the phone desk I picked up and was SO happy to hear the voice at the other end!

36 years and still in love! What’s up with that? I was so worried and just five minutes into the conversation I was reminded of why I married him. He makes me laugh. Even when the situation is dire, and most people would be whining about all the negative things…he is not. He is my husband and is recounting the last 24 hours out on a dark sea with a boat that decided to quit in the middle of an ocean with no land in sight. He has a crew. Two men who would apparently go to the ends of the earth and back... for him, (well, maybe that’s an exaggeration), but are still there... joking and making light of a situation that would make a lot of men tremble at the knees. These men are his friends. I can hear them in the background, vying for some airtime. He is so blessed.

A three day journey, with all the technology and safety measures known to man on board, these three men found themselves in the middle of the Gulf of Maine with a boat that decided to ‘give up the ghost’ after 20 or more hours of sailing. Yes, it takes balls…oh my gosh…did I just say ‘balls’?? Anyway, this experience is reserved for men who have what it takes to be a captain… and a crew… and to meet Mother Nature toe to toe... and defy the odds of getting caught in her grasp. Well, Mother Nature…I salute you!! It was not you, who made this journey a challenge, but something else… totally manmade. And for that I will be forever grateful! And speaking of grateful…I seem to be doing a lot of that these days…I am also grateful for the Canadian Coast Guard. Not only for coming to the rescue of these three men, but for giving them safe refuge, a hot meal, a warm cabin, and camaraderie… that only sea captains would understand...and last BUT not least, for towing them to safe harbor. Oh yes…and thank you… Captain Fee for being there…yes… being there…for your son… giving him divine love and guardianship.

So… back to the wine. Well, it is not the first time I have uncorked a vintage or two, and tonight won’t be the last. No…I am not an alcoholic….but I DO love my wine!! Salute!