Not What I Expected

One thing I rarely talk about and cringe when asked is, “How did you and your husband meet?” I find myself being defensive and over explaining the whole deal. Carl and I met on the freaking Internet….alright?! It was long before dating sites, 15 years ago, and it was a local community chat board, just a few people talking about whatever and occasionally meeting up, as a group, (see defensive) to share a meal, have drinks or bowl. It just so turns out that Carl was one of my little group, thing was while I found him funny, he was NOT my type and I was not interested in dating him, don’t think he was with me either, then one night we were hanging in some restaurant/bar where a few people were playing video trivia and here was this guy, this guy with long hair, that talked about a drug addiction that caused him to drop out of UC Santa Barbara, in his concert tank top….tucked in no less, answering every freaking question….correctly, he was not what I expected, or thought he was and that in itself was enough to peek my interest and here we are now.



When I started this blog I had very few expectations, didn’t think I would have many readers outside the people that were in to the stuff I wrote for the newsletter and I just thought it would be a useful tool to help sell wines that maybe got left out of our print newsletter, or flipped my switch in between issues…nothing more than that, and that was what I did for the first few posts. I’ve sense gone back a read some of those…ack, dull, snooze inducing and dry, if I had stuck to that model I may have just gotten what I expected. I wrote a post early on, (Nightly Tango With My Inner Wine Monster…or something like that) after writing that, I felt a bigger connection to this blog, like I wanted to write more shit like that and since it was NOT a Wine Country blog…..well, I could. Took some time but eventually I took the bumper guards off and wrote whatever the hell I wanted, and that is where we are now.



Even after I removed the muzzle I never expected much to come from this thing, I really didn’t, it was just fun for me, a place for me to rant, emote and confess (some of) my “sins” nothing more than that, but after Tom Wark featured Sans Dosage on one of his bloggerview dealies I started getting WAY more visitors, which of course inspires me to write more, which I love doing, so it was a win, win for me….but then something else started happening.

I started seeing the same people returning AND they were leaving comments, I was shocked that anyone gave a shit but more than anything….I started to think of these people as friends, much to the chagrin of a few of my “right here in my space” friends, they were suspicious of my new pals…and truth be told, it was because most of the posters were men….freaking MSNBC has everyone thinking that ALL dudes on the Internets are predators, so not fair and my “dudes” are the furthest thing from that, just a bunch of people, (that happen to have junk) that are into the same things as I am, and much like myself, probably spend way too much time online. Nothing nefarious or sleazy going on and I sincerely like, and care about all my buddies that take the time to read and post, like I said, keeps me writing and some of y’all are funny as shit, so you make me laugh too!



So Wednesday when I read a comment from Jessica asking if I would be working on Friday, (she was in town from Colorado) and could she come by and meet me….well, I nearly piddled I was so thrilled. I’ve gotten to know a couple of you; Benito, Ron, John, Michael….some of you I know better now; Heather and Vicki but to actually meet someone that has been following this thing, well I was excited as hell and unbelievably honored, honored that she would take the time….I was a little nervous, that shy thing rearing its ugly head again but the second I looked up from my desk, saw that beautiful grin and heard, “Hi Sam” I knew it was her….damn near hugged her! Jumped up from my seat and practically pounced her….I didn’t, didn’t want her to run screaming from the store, but I felt like I knew her….like we had been friends for years, gave this booze slinger a warm fuzzy feeling for sure.



We shared a breakfast of champions, Van Morrison and Tempier Rose and talked, the whole time with me feeling like a million bucks and wishing we lived closer cuzz this was my kinda chick, funny, smart, into interesting wines and just as warm and sweet as she could be….Jessica, it was an honor to meet you and you my friend made my day, thank you so much!

So while I started this blog with no expectations this thing has given me so much, John sent me some of his wines, (Loved the 2004 Pinot Noir, ripe fruit, creamy vanilla, interesting minty flavors…shared them with Jessica too, seemed fitting) from Westwood winery, Benito has been holding my hand all along the way and Ron….well, Ron you have been something I could have NEVER expected. Thank you all so much, this week has been all over the place for me personally, and your kind words, gestures and visit reminded me how cool some people can be.



Okay I swear, no more gushing, “I love you guys” posts for awhile….this week just begged for another, wanted to let you all know how much it has all meant to me.