Wine Here, There, and Everywhere

If Covid-19 hasn’t taught me anything else, it’s a new appreciation for wine. It sounds really bad when I say it out loud, but I drink (almost) every day. I used to only drink alcohol socially, but one day I saw an article on Facebook that changed my outlook on drinking forever. It said that the antioxidants found in red wine could significantly reduce the chances of catching a cold. I’m not sure how the words “could” and “significantly” can coincide, but it was on Al Gore’s Internet, so it must be true… maybe. This news excited me so much because I catch a cold every year sometimes 2 or 3 times even during the summer months. No one likes being sick, but I especially hate having a cold. Regardless of the medicine I take, the symptoms persist 7-10 days, and while it’s a God-awful feeling, it isn’t bad enough to take time off from work considering the sick leave rate of 8 hours per month. I’m sure there are other foods with cold-fighting antioxidants, but wine is so much more fun. There are many places nearby with inexpensive choices: Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Total Wine, grocery stores, and local sellers. It’s now a permanent fixture on my weekly grocery list; and no, I haven’t had a cold since.

I keep gum nearby as if it were a security blanket. Wrapped in shiny, silver foil I enjoy the tiny and inexpensive treat second to my Amazon hauls. I have chewing gum at my work desk, on the side compartment of my car, and in my purse. Closer than a Glock, it’s always handy; not just for fresh breath or mouth exercise; cause let’s face it, I’m not going to the gym, but for oral fixations like mindless munching which I often desire despite not being hungry. One day while in the car, I reached for my gum. Before I could remove a stick from the cartridge, my son asked for a piece. I kind of cringed on the inside. Don’t rescind my Mother’s Day card just yet. This is a safe space, no? The thing is I had already intended on offering him a piece. When he beat me to the punch by asking for it, I didn’t feel as generous. I replied immaturely, “You only want it cause you saw me with it,” while handing him a stick of gum. I regret the attitude displayed but realized that oftentimes the only reason a situation might feel undesirable or bad is because our choice to willingly do something has been taken out of our hands and into someone or something else’s.

I work for a university as a Grant Accountant. I keep an eye on expenditures to ensure they align with their proposed use along with sending invoices, generating financial reports, and approving certain budgetary requests. One thing I enjoy about my job is the autonomy to get things done within a self-managed timeline. I have a direct supervisor but am in no way micro-managed. Praise be. Time travel with me to a couple of weeks ago. I get a Skype message from the Project Administrator of one of my grants. She says that the project’s liaison, we’ll call him Dr. Smith, asked her to check on a pending payroll authorization which was awaiting my approval. I go off: not on her, not via Skype, but in my mind. First of all, she don’t know me like that to be sending instant messages. I only use them for people I know (in real life) and have conversed with regularly. Everyone else gets an e-mail. Second of all, the HR system used for submitting and approving the aforementioned payroll authorizations shows the routing queue. It shows each approver and where the submission is in the process. Third of all, when a submission is routed to someone for approval, an e-mail is automatically generated alerting him or her of the need to review and approve the said submission. Fourth of all, the submission had just been routed to me the same day she inquired of the authorization. I could see if it had been sitting for 2-3 days or more, but it hadn’t even been 2-3 hours. Fifth of all, YOU DON’T KNOW ME LIKE THAT. Okay, the fifth factoid was really just my nobody-puts-baby-in-a-corner attitude boiling over, but you get the point. I was irritated. In a controlling fashion, I ignored her message and finished what I was working on. Then I ate lunch. Then I had a glass of sweet red wine. Those pop-ups can be really disruptive. After my break, I viewed the pending authorization and noticed there wasn’t enough in the grant’s budget to accommodate the request. At this time, I sent an e-mail to the Project Administrator and CCed Dr. Smith to make them aware of the issue. All in all, the issue was resolved after several e-mail exchanges.

I’ve seen so many movie scenes where employees (and bosses) help themselves to a serving of bourbon, whiskey, or wine while at work. They conveniently have a stash in one of their drawers if not a decanter sitting in plain sight. I’ve always wondered if people do that in real life: if people drank at work or spiked their coffee. Now I am one of those people, so yes, it’s true. I said all of that to say that my favorite wine pairing isn’t Pinot Noir with pizza or Chardonnay with salmon; it’s sweet red wine with life. I drink it after meals, with meals, with friends, while alone, at night, during the day, to celebrate, and to commiserate. It goes with everything and can be enjoyed with nothing at all.

This pandemic has been rough for a lot of people, but for me, the only significant adjustment, in a nutshell, has been the removal of choice. I want to hoard my gum, but my role as a mother who must teach kindness and sharing removes my choice to be selfishly mean. I want to curse out colleagues who get on my nerves, but professionalism and my desire to not get fired removes the choice to be a jerk. I want to eat tacos and Reese’s every day (separately, not together) but concern for my health and waistline have made that desire an infeasible choice. I want to travel and go on vacation, but certain restrictions have removed my choice to explore more than a few destinations. I want to gather with lots of family members for the holidays but the chances of catching and spreading the coronavirus have removed my choice to do so. With the myriad of choices that are now no longer valid or viable, I take pleasure in choosing my weekly wines. Have you seen a wine aisle? The choices are abundant and plentiful: bottles next to more bottles on top of and below more bottles. There are so many varieties from so many places; I think it may be impossible to try them all, but I like sweet reds. They go with everything.