About six months ago, I walked into a small wine shop in Malibu to grab what else? Wine.  I remember how I felt that day, but not why.  Just one of those days the wind was out of my sails and my feet were full of lead.  I wandered down the short aisles aimlessly staring at labels, nothing registering.  A man appeared in front of me and asked if I needed any help.  He may as well have played a Hallmark commercial for me as my eyes welled up and I thought for a moment I was going to break down right there in front of the Bordeaux. It must have appeared that the complexity of choosing a bottle of wine could actually bring a woman to tears.

As I quickly tried to gain my composure, he goes, “Wait.  You like chocolate?” That did it. The puddles of salt water overflowed.  “I-is that a ‘yes’?”  I couldn’t even nod.  In an instant he handed me a giant bar of Godiva and said, “Take this. It’s on the house.” He smiled and I handed him my credit card to pay for a mystery bottle of red that I managed to grab (my priorities were still in tact even if my emotions weren’t). I choked back more tears and whispered, “Thank you.”

I felt lighter when I left. It wasn’t the wine. It wasn’t the chocolate.  It was the fact that a stranger went out of their way to be nice.  And I’ve thought of it ever since.

I’ve gone back in the wine shop a few times since but never saw him again.

Tammy

“A bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect.”                           Robert Louis Stevenson

Wine tip of the week:                                                                                     Educated Guess Cabernet                                                                   Napa Valley 2011  $22                                                                             Rich and complex for the money