“As Simple As That…”

January is Mentor Month!  I really like the word mentor, because when I speak it in my mind I think of my Dee Dee telling me about her “5 Great Mentors” and everything they taught her.  Who is your mentor?

I’ve been fortunate to have had a few poignant advisors in my wine life so far, but the person who started it all is my grandmother, Lindy Roes.  Far from a wine person, she is a world person.  To me, wine is world, so I guess it can apply to this wine blog, si?

My grandmother is the singular most enchanting human being I have ever known- her spell is potion of untouchable qualities that have something to do with the way she sings half her words, always smells like an English garden, and gracefully flows through challenges that would cause most to melt, offering friendship to everyone along her way by saying things like you can accomplish all things.  She has inspired almost everything I know about how to be.

One of the first times I remember drinking wine was at my her home outside of Charleston, SC.  It was not good wine, but I didn’t know that at the time.  It was red and I drank a lot of it (too much, probably).  I remember feeling for the first time all of those things that one feels when they drink wine- poetic and brilliant, with an understanding that the world was beautiful and sad, and believing that it would all go on forever.  Thinking that if I was lucky and smart I could take part in some of the best parts along the way.  The next day I went out on a boat trip where I also learned about hangovers and the helpfulness of a hair of the dog.  Big lessons in little time!

At my grandmother’s home, as at most grandparents’ homes, you can find a serious accumulation of interesting things- books, pictures, and publications galore.  On a day when we have nothing in particular to do (the best kind of day), we putter hours away poking through carefully stored piles of the past.  I listen to her stories of growing up, being a grown-up, and travels around the globe.  We drink wine and eat peanuts.  We laugh and cry, she sings, we rhyme.  We get serious, and in the next moment, straight up silly.

The archives are full of all things witty and weird.  Like the clipping below.  I really got a kick out of this.  So from my mentor to you, a little snippet from a Vanity Fair issue published sometime around the 1940’s…