No, she didn’t divorce me, but she is retiring, at least that is what her company has now decided.  For the longest time, she thought that no one was remembering that she was actually going to retire, as she was a fixture there.  They were making plans for the monthly meeting with the Account Execs across the state and she was going to turn over the reins to her heir apparent.  She was a bit frazzled, as she was told that where she thought that they would have the lunch afterwards, could not handle the group, but she blamed it on the problem that all the restaurants are having trouble getting help.  Then she was told that another place had been found, so she relaxed a little bit, and then when she was told to invite me and our son and family here in town, she was elated that they remembered that she was retiring and they were giving her a party.

The party was at a restaurant called Mex, not far from her office and it was going to be a Taco Party.  I decided to get there early, to see if I could be of any assistance, or if I was just going to be considered a hindrance to the planners.  When people starting saying “where is she?” I joked that she is probably checking her emails and messages, before she came to the party; and I was right.  There were some elaborate posters made, including one that had candy bars as part of the good luck message, and there was a carry-out pizza box that had dollar bills fanned out and the edges rolled like a crust, with a generous number of quarters representing pepperoni.  The box was evening lined with scratch-off instant lottery tickets (I guess as insulation to keep the pizza warm). There were her Account Execs, other members of the team that get a lot of the grunt work done, plenty of former coworkers from across the state came to celebrate as well as some of our family.  Her client and his staff, also made a great showing to wish her off, even though they knew that they would see her about a week later at the Board Meeting.  She was on the verge of crying several times, because of all the attention that she was receiving.

I also figured that I would show up early and have something cold, because everyone else would be still on the clock and the company has a zero-tolerance for drinking during business hours, but I don’t count, plus I thought it would make for a great article and another wine memory.  Normally with Mexican food I would have a Margarita, but this place is more Mexican food for Americans, so I had a glass of Chasing Venus Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, New Zealand 2021 by the Matchbook Wine Company.  Matchbook Wine Company is a five-generation family-owned winery in Northern California’s Dunnigan Hills. Sauvignon Blanc is basically the wine of Marlborough and hence New Zealand, as eighty percent of Marlborough is Sauvignon Blanc and it is very successful; the wine is noted for its relative lack of subtlety, its intense flavors of green pepper and gooseberry, and a character that has been famously described as “cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush.”  The soft golden colored wine offered the classic notes of grapefruit, gooseberry and herbs: on the palate tones of citrus with bright acidity and a short finish of citrus.