Suddenly, it happened.

Have you ever thought about the idea that life is filled with things that occur suddenly? Let’s put that “suddenly” into perspective.

Suddenly doesn’t always mean immediately. Everyone understands that our journey is filled with people, places and things that have happened to us without planning. Also, there’s that time when our “suddenly” is before us without us realizing the passage of time.

The passage of time surprises many of us. Have you ever suddenly realized you’re not a kid anymore but a mature adult? When and how the heck did that happen?

One day I was a little kid playing on my parent’s farm. All of a sudden, I was a high school graduate and then stepping into college life. Suddenly, I was a college graduate with the draft in my face and I found myself in the Navy.

Innocently and unknowingly, I then found myself with a person who would be my life partner and a ring was put on my finger. Suddenly I was married! What the heck does that entail? Then — take a breath — there was going to be a new member of our family, and, I was, remarkably, a father! And, as the years rushed by, amazingly there were four little faces looking at me like I knew everything — maybe it’s good youth is innocent and trusting.

Suddenly I’m sitting in a chair holding a grandchild and reading to him the same books I read to my children. And, at that moment, I saw me in my grandfather’s lap having a book read to me.

What’s with this suddenly thing? It happened so fast. However, I’ve learned that, along the way, the “suddenly” moments have led to amazing discoveries.

You all know the rather dreary days we experienced in January. It was gloomy, beautifully frosty and not nice icy, windy and snowy. Then, one morning I was welcomed by a glamorous sun filled sunrise. Suddenly the world looked so different — glowing with promise, safety and some warmth.

I was in the midst of visiting a wine store and was suddenly drawn to a bottle with red bold letters that spelled DADÁ. Hmmm, what’s that all about? Hey! There’s a DADÁ 1 and a DADÁ 2 — suddenly I knew there was something to learn.

Dada or Dadaism was an avant art movement that originated in Europe in the early 20th century as a reaction to the horrors of World War I. That’s nice to know but how does that relate to that bottle of wine with the big red letters? And, why is there a No. 1 and a No. 2 wine?

Well, it seems there’s a wine producer in Argentina by the name of Finca Las Moras that makes this wine to celebrate two very similar but very different wines. A bottle of both wines dropped into my bucket and the tasting was remarkable.

Both wines are aged in American and French oak barrels. The difference is that the No. 1 wine nestles with medium toasted barrels and the No. 2 wine frolics with heavily toasted barrels.

The results are:

DADÁ 1 is much softer in taste with gentle vanilla notes and aromas and DADÁ 2 is loaded with amazing mocha tastes and scents. If you’re in a quiet mood, go with the No. 1. If you feel like getting excited, taste No. 2. Both are terrific wines and hopefully, they aren’t suddenly gone.

A group of us are in the organizing stages of producing a session dealing with census education and motivation. We have Marshall’s Studio One on our side and after leaving the studio’s office I knew we should have a moderator for the panel.

The panel will comprise employees from the city of Marshall, the YMCA and the Marshall-Lyon County Library — a collaborative effort to show how working together is always in the public’s best interest. But, I needed that moderator.

As I walked to my car, a person was walking in front of me and I was so into my head, I didn’t see who it was. Suddenly, the person turned, greeted me and…there was my moderator! I needed to celebrate and some quails were calling to me.

The Columbia Valley of Washington state is home to Covey Run Winery and it makes a very delicious Riesling wine. The valley is known for its quail population and for its wines — what a perfect combination. To celebrate the recruitment of a moderator, I enjoyed a glass of Covey Run’s Riesling — full of honey tastes but with enough minerality to ensure you know it’s a Riesling.

So you can see — we are filled with “suddenlys” — those moments that pass sometime too slowly and then there are those moments that build into a lifetime and suddenly….?

As always, eat and drink in moderation but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!