In my early 20's, when I drank wine it was almost always white wine. I don't recall when I made that smooth transition to being a red wine drinker, but now that I am, I seldom choose to drink white wine....until recently. It started in May with a few glasses of champagne, then a visit with my mom, who almost always drinks white, had me joining her in a glass of white instead of my usual red. Holding that chilled glass of white wine brought with it a feeling of melancholy...of days gone by but not forgotten. My twenties (and thirties!) are now part of that "gone but not forgotten past and I now find myself looking for things on the internet that begin with "40 something". I read Chatelaine rather than Vogue. I wear flats more often than heels. Weekends are spent more often at home with a good book instead of out until the wee hours..or at home drinking red wine. In my thirties I drank less often and the majority of my time was spent in the role of "mom". I could be found at the school, at the soccer field, and driving the van full of my little people to and fro... yes, it was the requisite "soccer mom" mini-van. Whether I am looking for a new hairstyle, or fashion, or some skincare, just like the transition from white to red, I have transitioned to that "40 something" person. I no longer drive a mini-van, I no longer belong to a 'PAC' and I have more freedom than I've had in a very long time. I drink by myself if I choose and recently that choice was a glass of white wine. Last week I was given a bottle of chardonnay as a gift, with the promise of a post here on my long neglected blog. The bottle, OPEN, is a BC VQA wine from the Okanagan Valley, and I've drank the red variety many times. I call it "the wine that tells me what to do with it". So, in the quiet hours of a very warm summer evening, I poured myself a glass and sat outside under the twinkly lights of my gazebo and savoured the cool, crisp taste of the refreshing white wine. It was fruity and cold and just perfect for such an unusually warm evening. It felt like I was in the Okanagan. I wanted the moment to last for as long as possible. The quiet, the warmth and that soft, chilling peachy flavour rolling around in my mouth. I sat there for a long while, listening to the silence. It was strange. Nobody was calling for me. Nobody needed me. My time was my own. Somehow, while drinking that white wine, I found my way back to a part of me that I'd put aside. A part of me that had more choices and fewer obligations. And that person can choose to drink both red and white wine.....but the "40 something" in me is smart enough to know not to drink both at the same time! Thank goodness that with age comes wisdom!
