Last year, we went to a sparkling wine tasting event at our favorite winery. We left with eight bottles of champagne. Fast forward a year and I could only find four bottles. While I knew we had drunk one or two, I didn’t think we had consumed four bottles. I was a little disappointed in how the stash had dwindled. Undeterred, however, I bought four more bottles. Imagine my surprise when I found the missing bottles of champagne! Now, I actually have a grand total of nine bottles – we drank one less than I thought we did. Happy days are here!
More seriously, however, the champagne stash is actually a very symbolic supply of booze around here. When we got married, a friend gave us a bottle of Dom Perignon. We drank the bottle and ate our wedding cake topper on our first anniversary. Ever since, big life achievements and anniversaries require a bottle of champagne and cake. That’s just how we roll.
Since I’m a bit superstitious, I initially refused to have champagne in the house unless we had already achieved the milestone for which the champagne was needed. But when we went to the tasting and came home with “spares”, it was a pretty logical step. The wine was a limited release and we either purchased it then or risked it running out. To me, that erased the bad mojo of having spare champagne.
And now?
Well, my superstitious mind has me thinking that the rediscovery of those “missing” bottles is actually a good sign. It means we will have great luck and happiness in the future. At least nine bottles’ worth. Can I just say it? Nine bottles worth of good luck is enough for me.
This year, honestly, feels like a substantial year for us. Not in the same way as the year we got married or in the celebratory way when we went to Antigua AND had a solar eclipse right over our house. Nope, this feels like the beginning of what I anticipate will be a 2-3 year transition into retirement. While certain structural things will have to happen outside of our direct control, the real transformation – i.e. the work we do to get truly ready – has begun. And that feels like a very celebratory time in its own way.
Honestly, some of our heaviest lifting is already done with the completion of our renovations. Not only do we suddenly have time we never had before, but our operating costs have plummeted without the constant projects. Plus, we have been deliberately rebuilding our social circle after years of eschewing fun for the completion of renos. Perhaps most importantly, however, is that we are finally starting to recover from all of that work. The exhaustion that had set in long before the deck project is very gradually easing. The house hasn’t felt like a burden in awhile. Instead, it is gradually becoming that calm, safe space that everyone needs.
Unbeknownst to my husband, this weekend feels like the very first real step into our new future. He has tomorrow off for a four-day weekend and we are focused on getting more of the garden in and also cutting boards to length for the planters he’s making for our deck. Sounds pretty innocuous and mundane, right? Oh, contraire. We haven’t really taken valuable vacation days for something as simple as garden prep in years. Nope. Those days were saved for NOLA trips, must-do projects and the occasional Ironman or other race. The fact that he has one spare day is actually quite impressive. The fact that we can do the garden less from the perspective as a burdensome afterthought and more as a fun, family-focused activity is even more impressive.
Into this mix, we have a couple of uses for champagne coming up. There is a work achievement for my husband that we want to celebrate, our anniversary and potentially a work achievement for me. Plus, we each may have a personal achievement that may need a little pop of a cork. If all of that sounds like the champagne may be flowing, let me temper that thought: it will flow but over a series of months not days or weeks.
Yet, the idea that we can begin that long, slow celebration of the ends of the end and the beginnings of the beginning is a profound one. Further, what started as a nascent dream of our future is now being operationalized into reality. It’s both rewarding and fulfilling in ways I truly couldn’t have imagined. I’m starting to love our everyday every day. I’m finding that what would have counted as a crisis is now an inconvenience. There are at least extra minutes in my every day and sometimes as much as extra hours. I haven’t yet experienced a full extra day, but as my husband notes, I mow the yard and hang laundry quite frequently. Thus, there may be just a titch of me “finding” work to do going on.
Regardless, days have suddenly become longer and there is time for us to be the humans we need to be along with the partners, kitty parents, friends, colleagues and family members we always wanted to be. When time isn’t an enemy, both hope and good times seem more approachable and achievable.
And therein lies the beauty of my champagne stash. Before, we were so busy that pausing to celebrate felt like letting our guards down. It seemed too risky. Thus, one small bottle of champagne alone felt like we were flirting with potential disaster.
Now?
My stash reminds me that good days are ahead and we should plan for them.
The Yuppie Homesteader 