January 28, 2021

 

Masseria Liveli Orion 2018 Primitivo

 

I recently replaced my birdfeeder.  The old one had gotten water in it, ruining the birdseed by turning it into a nasty muck on the bottom of the feeder.  Birds didn’t want to eat from it (neither would I) so I had a birdfeeder in my yard but no birds. 

The muck didn’t happen overnight.  It had been a slow process that started when the top of the feeder developed a crack.  Over time, water got into the crack.  The water drained to the bottom of the feeder until there was enough water to ruin the food and make muck.

The birdfeeder creates a good analogy for how my own insides have been since the beginning of COVID.  On the outside, I go to work, I focus on life, and I get things done.  Inside, water has been leaking in through the cracks until my insides are muck.  I find myself being hungry (trying to fill the emptiness inside), angry (I want things to be normal again), lonely (I’m a people person and the isolation is slowly killing me), and tired (depression drags me down more each day).

Replacing my birdfeeder so I can watch the birds in the morning while I drink my tea is a step in the direction of taking care of myself.  It’s a step toward removing the muck from my own insides to help myself remember why I love life.  It’s only one step, however, I’ll have to adjust more parts of my life if I’m going to rediscover who I am and reimagine my place in a society that seems to be heading toward a forever in social distancing.

One of my other ways of taking care of myself is identifying the wines I love and enjoying them.  I’ve found lately that I’d rather spend more on a nice bottle that I can enjoy thoroughly than buy a lesser expensive bottle for every day.  I used to be a “glass a night” girl.  I found over time, the glass a night stopped mattering.  It was okay if it was a mediocre wine.  I didn’t appreciate the great wines as much.

I was trying to fill my loneliness by overindulging to the point that a great bottle was going unnoticed. 

I re-set my thinking (I changed out my birdseed) and focused on the individual traits of the wine I was drinking.  I remembered through this process that I LOVE Primitivo. 

This bottle isn’t the kind of bottle I want to open on a Tuesday “because we’re having burgers and I don’t have anything else open tonight.”  It’s a bottle for a moment when I can truly enjoy it, savor it, and allow the flavors of cherry and cinnamon into my soul.  This is a big wine, a wine for someone who likes bold and full-bodied red wines.