Who would’ve believed it from an introverted and quiet farm boy?

For quite some years, I’ve been holding wine tasting events. Please understand these events are not world class wine tasting happenings They are meant to be fun. I’ve tasted a rather hefty number of wines, read a bunch about vinology, participated in online courses and had a number of conversations with winemakers about their adventures making wine.

Did all those talks and classes make me someone who knew wine? Not really … I was a novice and knew it. Remember, I’m an introverted and quiet farm boy!

What did all that time exploring the world of wine do for me? They enabled me to more fully enjoy a glass of wine and talk a bit with folks about wine. All of this just seemed to happen. Looking back, I see that having to serve in the Navy and being stationed in Germany got me to first base with wine. It was there that I sipped my first wine. Is that happenstance — that somehow things unexpectedly fall together? I’ll say it is.

My next scheduled wine tasting will happen soon, and I was trying to come up with a theme for the social event. As I was going out of a building for a walk, I bumped into a friend and we talked about how nice the day was and how good it felt to walk. Then he asked me what the upcoming wine tasting was going to feature, and I jokingly told him it would feature his favorite wine. I had no idea what wine he liked, and he replied that we would then have to taste some red Italian wines.

Hey! Why not? So is that bumping into each other in a doorway to come up with a wine theme not happenstance? Yes it was, and we have them everyday. It’s a matter of recognizing them and doing something about the occurrence.

It’s amazing how small the world is. It seems one must be constantly on the alert because one never knows when you’ll run into someone from your old hometown, your old neighborhood, your high school or whatever. For instance…

There was a book presentation by a local author who wrote about an old ladies seminary in this city. The old school existed for over 50 years, and then burned down. It had a major impact on the city and gave women a chance to do more than housework. After the presentation, I visited the old site of the school, and found nothing. That was disappointing.

I made a couple of inquiries with local agencies, and ran into people who were from my old section of the state and we knew some of the same folks. Who would believe that attending a program would lead you to old neighbors? Happenstance happens!

For quite some time, I had been looking for a very old wine friend — a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon — without success. But I didn’t stop looking, and one day walking down a store aisle, there it was! The bottle’s arms reached out to me (Well, not really!), and I grabbed it. For some reason, the wines soft cherry taste and vanilla finish just feels so dang good to me.

Was it happenstance that I should go into that store and see the wine?

Memories are relived from happenstance, also. On a past walk, I was plodding along on a path I’d never taken before. I’m not paying attention to my surroundings, so who knows what I missed. My mind was on the old farm, and rounding a curve, there it was — a willow tree. We had one back home, and I liked to walk around it and spend time at it with my mother. Who would’ve believed that melding of a memory process with the actual encounter of the subject of the memory? Happenstance…

Now I think it’s time for enjoy a glass of the Cabernet Sauvignon I mentioned before, and just let things happen.

Therefore, my friends, don’t be surprised if one day, you see a stranger who looks at you and says, “Hey, I know you!” It’s a small world and things happen.

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

Cheers!