TODAY MATTERS MORE THAN YESTERDAY

Today matters. It’s January 1, 2023, the first mattering day.

A day of hope, hoping to fulfill your New Years’ pledge for at least one day.

Anyone pledging to never drink again?

But after some ‘hair of the dog?’

Except my dog doesn’t shed.

New Years is hitting a little different this year.

First, it started a night early with a wine tasting, but not just any random wine tasting.

After two postponements, the third try was a charm.

Our friends once owned a winery, which seems like a lot.

But not enough.

After they sold it, they turned a normal Beaverton property into a smaller version of a winery.

It’s an amazing combination of irrigation technology, architecture, and well-thought creativity.

The interior had been transformed into a livable art gallery with beautiful paintings and tapestries mounted on custom made walls for their size.

The size is big, really big.

We’ve known each other three or four years to prove the fallacy that it’s impossible to make new friends after a certain age.

The difference is timing.

Friends are friends no matter the age.

The Night Before New Years Eve

Today matters, but my new year started in the wine cellar of a suburban home two nights ago.

Wine cellar?

My wine cellar is a box of wine in the back of a closet.

Their wine cellar would fit in any wine connoisseur magazine, travel story in wine country, or a ‘greatest achievements’ story.

In other words, it was stunning. I don’t know if it was supposed to be stunning, but I was stunned.

And this was before any cork was unstopped.

If you’ve gone to a wine tasting you know the drill: A short pour with a quick description of the wine, the barrel, the grapes. Or the other way around.

When wine is presented by a wine maker it takes things to a whole ‘nother level.

Our host and hostess would be comfortable anywhere in the world. I know this how?

Because we’ve all talked about places we’ve been.

We made travel plans together that got sideswiped by Covid.

These are people who do things, who know how to do things that open to new ideas and plans.

They’ve gone around the world on business and pleasure and lived to tell the tale.

As a team, they cover everything worth covering.

First Cork To Last, Today Matters

I’m not one to throw around terms like ‘Life Force’, but as I sat in that wine cellar surrounded by a thousand bottles laid down on racks, I heard a life force.

It came from the wine, from the land, from the wine business, wine marketing.

It came from a couple dreaming as big a dream you could dream, then starting the work.

Besides tasting the best wine money can’t buy, the learning experience wasn’t about wine.

That’s how life is best lived; one thing links to another and each link takes on a life of its own.

One day follows another, but today matters the most.

Yesterday is finished and settled as regret or inspiration.

Tomorrow is an idea with a plan to make yesterday the best ever.

And that’s why today matters.