Happy Mother’s Day to Moms everywhere!

Being the youngest in my family and having two older sisters, I used to say I grew up with three Moms. Now that I’m more than a bit older than that, I know I had quite a few more Moms and several other women who significantly impacted my growth and development.

First, of course, there was my mom. I loved my mom a ton. She may have thought fine dining was fixed from a box, but she was devoted and set a great example of how caring really works and she even blossomed into a women’s rights advocate in the Seventies. Funny how certain things about someone can stick in your memory – Mom’s favorite drink was Campari and soda. Way before Campari was a thing.

Then just a couple doors away was my Aunt Gladys. Easily my favorite Aunt. Never too busy to take me under her wing and always teaching me. Her lessons continued well into my collegiate days. She was great! Aunt Gladys favored an ice cold Stroh’s Bohemian Style beer (frequently accompanied by one of her Pall Malls).

Early in my college days I also learned from a couple of dates who thought I needed a bit more mothering. None of these lasted long at all, but each did teach me something about what I was seeking in my life’s relationships. One lasted only half a date when telling me she wouldn’t drink the Iron City beer on tap at the House, she’d go for a glass of my cherished Ballantine’s Scotch if I’d mix it with – gasp – grape soda.

Then I went abroad on Semester at Sea and my world opened up. In our 111 days circumnavigating the globe I met and observed Moms from all sorts of cultures, religions, races, some being rich, and some incredibly poor. I will never forget being a guest of a family in Philippines. They set a chair at a carton for me to eat with them. The Mom of the family explained they had used what money they had available to by one mango and a beer and that I would be the only one eating. A humbling example of hospitality and one I have never forgotten. The beer that day was a very warm, but exceptional in its own way, San Miguel.

It was at that same time I also met the first woman who shared her life with me in a way no one ever had before. No mothering there, just an incredible woman who was the first in my life to ever simply accept me for who I was. No pretense, no BS, just the two of us in our intense relationship. I loved her, she loved me, and White Russians. It ended badly as Mumford and Sons so aptly sing “But it was not your fault but mine. And it was your heart on the line. I really fucked it up this time. Didn’t I, my dear?”

Then I got supremely lucky. Attending schools a thousand miles apart, it would take an accident during a summer job for me to meet the woman who would be the love of my life. She was gorgeous, smart, strong, forward, and way out of my class. Plus a case of opposites attracting. She had it all together while I was a hot mess at that time. She was artistic, bold, and freewheeling. I was pretty much plain vanilla. She knew where she was headed in life as opposed to my being quite rudderless. The evening of the accident she told her family she had just met the man she would marry as I was saying I’d met the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, but who had no interest in me. She’d introduce me to the world of wine via her grandfather’s homemade wines and later we’d share a years’ long love affair with her favorite, Merlot.

She enhanced me, taught me, led me, and made me a much better partner, father, friend, and person. It’s unfair she had to fight her war with brain cancer and left our lives far too soon. But true to her foresight, she even picked the wines we were to serve at her Celebration of Life: Charles Krug 2013 Sauvignon Blanc and their 2012 Generations.

Thankfully I still have strong women in my life to help me along. An awesome daughter, daughter-in-law, sisters-in-law, and some wonderful friends.

I even know what each of them like to drink!

Happy Mother’s Day to all!