Yesterday was a Great Day!

By June Mirassou — Oct 6, 2014 7:41am
Yesterday, Steven and I returned to the winery for the first time since my prognosis. He was dreading it - only because he knew he would have a hard time holding it together in front of his Winery Family. Anyone who knows Steven knows that he is a crybaby in general - sorry, babe, but it's true! Lately both of us find our tears and emotions are just beneath surface, ready to well up at the slightest provocation.

But, as he said, he had to "break the seal". We drove up together and first stopped off next door, where the magic happens. Craig Ploof, assistant winemaker AKA Superman, has taken on the herculean task of managing the harvest in Steven's absence. There are no words to express our gratitude for all that he has done to enable Steven to be with me during the past two weeks. They tasted through bins and talked about the progress of the 2014 vintage...and I know Steven was in his element, able to forget for a minute the crap that we have been dealing with day-in, day-out lately. Then hugs and tears with Craig and his lovely Sagit. Oh, here we go... I was so touched by all the many people at the Wente facility who reached out to express their love and concern, and to offer to help us in any way. This is truly a "Winery Family".

Then, we stopped by the winery, where they were just getting ready to open the tasting room. More hugs and tears with more Winery Family members. How can we ever thank them enough for "holding down the fort" in Steven's absence? And yet they continue to ask if there's anything they can do to help us? They are already doing so much!

I still tire easily, and the anti-seizure meds contribute to that fatigue as well, so we headed home. Oldest daughter, April, was there to greet us. What a nice treat! And despite not feeling well, she rallied and mopped the floor, went for a walk with us, and just hung out. I took a little nap, and Steven and I watched a few episodes of "The Mind of a Chef", season 2 (my latest Netflix binge-watching obsession!). A typical lazy Sunday afternoon with family.

Later, Aidan, Sara, Matt, and Coffey joined us for dinner out on the patio with Springsteen blaring out the window and a lively discussion over Spaghetti with 'Augmented Sauce" a la Steven. (Seriously. He called it "augmented". Lit. majors!)

So, that's it. That's what made it a great day: hugs, and tears, and friends, and family, and Springsteen. A pretty simple recipe. I plan to repeat it as much as possible in the coming weeks! Katherine's coming home this weekend!!! Yay!!!