I adore red wine. The taste, the color, the warmth... ahhh. Some of the best nights of my life have started with a bottle of wine... and I'm not only talking about the long drunken stupor nights...
I'm talking about passing the bottle around the table during a family game of Scribblish at my parent's house... sitting on the balcony of our old apartment watching a crappy meteor shower with one of my wife's best friends... hopping the pool fence for a midnight swim with one of my best friends and his now wife... picking up a new Incubus cd and listening to it over and over again into the wee morning hours... a 4th of July festival at a north Georgia vineyard... THOSE kinda nights.
My love affair with wine started back in college with cheap gas station white zinfandel and late nights on a sorority hall. From there it grew into the Pinot Grigios, Sauvignon Blancs... then came the Cabs, Pinot Noirs, Malbecs, and Merlots... and now it is almost strictly limited to reds.
Last night, I really wanted wine. I had reached my limit of Sam Adams Octoberfest for the season and lately it's been cold enough to bring out the whiskey... but last night I had a hankering for Merlot. It had been a long week. A lot of changes are happening. I just took a new job... so I will be leaving some people that I have grown extremely close to... and it hasn't been the easiest to come to terms with... so with that being said... we will stop that discussion until further notice. Now... back to me wanting wine...
Work wiped me out, so I took a nap when I got home. I awoke to a chilly afternoon and a setting sun. I felt like running but didn't want to travel to the state park this late in the evening... plus... I was still trying to shake off a run from earlier in the week where I ran up on two coyotes after sunset at Oak Mt. I've ran up on bears, been stalked by some species of wild cat... but these two wild dogs got the best of me. Meh. I'll be over it by the weekend... anyways... I grabbed my GoLite pack hanging on the garage wall (mainly because the place where the hydration bladder is located provides a perfect placement for stable transportation of a bottle of wine), my headlamp, debit card, ID, and headed into the setting sun.
I had a quick chat with some neighbors on my way out of the neighborhood and then I cut across an open field until I hit the access road to the dirt roads. The "dirt roads" are simply a wide open field with a jeep road winding through the center... it's roughly 2 miles in length from end to end. It's nothing spectacular, but it keeps me off the hard pavement and it's an easy 5 mile fix from my doorstep when I don't feel like traveling to run.
I ran the dirt roads and then cut up through a neighborhood. The neighborhood was occupied with mom's and strollers. I continued until I hit a county road and followed that to the gas station. The gas station was packed. The Shell is one of the first stops off the interstate and I just happened to be in the mix of after-work traffic. I turned off my headlamp and headed inside. I grabbed a bottle of cheap Merlot and a bag of AirHead candies (they're new and amazing... oh... if you haven't figured it out by now... I am a candy addict). You would think I had a big red clown nose the way I caught stares. Yes. I'm in shorts and it's freezing outside. Yes. I have a light on my head. Yes. I just paid for a bottle of wine and put it in my backpack.
I walked outside and sat on the curb to enjoy my candies. The sun had disappeared and was replaced by an extremely bright moon. I guess I looked out of place since I was offered a ride home. I simply smiled and declined the offer. I finished up the last of my candy goodness and took to the road. The return trip was a bit shorter. I ran down the side of the busy county road until I peeled off into a neighborhood. I finally got to the open field behind my house. I sat down and shut my light off...
After a few minutes, my eyes started to adjust to the darkness and one by one... I watched the stars pop into focus. I sat staring into the night sky until my hands became cold and numb. I picked myself up off of the cold ground and headed towards the house to enjoy the warm wine tucked away in my pack.
It has been a long, lazy, cold, and rainy Friday... so after work, I decided to take a nap, watch 3 movies and write an entry... absolutely anything to keep my mind busy. Now it's time to throw on some music and finish off the bottle of Merlot from last night...
Till tomorrow...
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