If there’s anything this past year should have taught us, it’s that we shouldn’t take time for granted.

I was recently sitting in a neighborhood park and a class of preschool children arrived and began to play. Immediately, a smile found itself on my face as I watched the kids play tag, run, yell at each other and just let it all hang out. It was most enjoyable.

Additionally, I noticed the attending adults and how they related to the kids. It’s amazing to see such concern mixed with discipline — the kids were being kids but they listened to the adults. Hugs were exchanged between the adults and the children while the entire experience played out in front of me. I couldn’t help but smile and feel appreciation.

When it was time for the class to return to the classroom, one of the adults announced it was time to grab onto the rope and the children ran to a rope laying on the ground, grabbed their spot on it and waited for the command to began their march back to their room. If only we adults could mirror childhood.

As I watched the group march away, I wondered how maturity changed us — from being innocent children to, well, less than innocent adults. What changed me … you?

Do you recall what your first 10 years were like? How about those sometime exciting teen years? Followed closely by the young adult years, middle age and then, for some of us, the wonderfully fulfilling mature years! What did you learn as you traveled through each of those periods and who taught you? Who taught you to grab the rope when necessary?

As I sat on the park bench and watched those little kids do their thing, I wandered through my growing years and saw many faces of people who gave me guidance, direction and support. Of course, there were those stinkers I would rather forget about but their faces came before me, too. Nobody said life was going to be a bowl full of cherries, right?

Growing, learning, reaching out, relearning, maturing all happen through our adding of years to our circle of life. Later that day and with the picture of those young kids still fresh in my mind, I pondered about my circle of life, and as I unconsciously sipped a glass of wine, the wine’s taste brought me back to reality. How did I get to the stage of knowing and enjoying this type of liquid? So many stories to tell…

My infancy with wine was growing up in a family that didn’t drink wine. I didn’t learn much about wine in those days — beer was the once-in-a-while beverage for my family but never for me. I didn’t like the taste of beer, but that mentality did change…ummm … rather quickly while serving in the military. Wine was a foreign language to me.

My “teen years” of wine knowledge happened when I got to experience German wines, then French wines and Italian wines while in Germany. Oh, those were such learning experiences and luckily, I had someone with me who knew as much about them as I did — which was nothing — so we learned together. The Rieslings of the Rhine and Mosel regions were great learning “books.” There was so much to be taught about what the different regions meant to the various wines, the soil of each region, the amount of rainfall, the vine root and the importance of warm sunny weather.

My “teen years” quickly flowed into my “young adult years” of wine discovery and I got to research the tastes of France via its wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Rhone Valley. My growing knowledge of these wines allowed me to pass my self administered tests and I then entered my middle age of wine learning when the wines of the United States began to ferment into the consciousness of the American public.

Oh gosh, the California wines were almost too numerous to learn but thankfully, I had many years to learn during those “middle age years” and I sampled — meaning research, of course — many, many wines.

The complexities of wine became more fully known to me — what does a wine’s depth mean, its mouth feel, why blowing through one’s nose allows taste to become more fully enjoyed, why look at a wine, why smell it and what’s a finish? Sometimes tasting all those merlots, Cabernet Sauvignons, Chardonnays and all the blends was a daunting task but my previous years had taught me to forge ahead and, I did.

Now in my “mature years,” I seek more new adventures in wine tasting and discovery. Bring on those wines produced in the Ukraine, Hungary and father east across Asia. Let’s have the new cold climate wines of Norway, Denmark and England. What adventures still await me in good old Minnesota wines — I want a bottle of Itasca! I want to mature!

Only you can say how your maturity path has moved you in what directions of learning. I hope your maturing process has been as interesting and awesome as mine.

Do you think it’s true that age brings wisdom? Hmmmm…???

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

Cheers!