So Much Red It’s Made Me Blue
Being in love with someone who disagrees with some of your most fundamental preferences makes for a very broadening life; certainly on this day as much as any other, both Andra and I (MTM) feel a grave responsibility to live up to our hope that the rest of our country can manage to forge the kind of bipartisanship that she and I have committed the rest of our lives to.
Fundamental to our happy existence is learning how to have a depth of compassion for the pain of your opposite when your first instinct is to breathe a sigh of relief for your own good fortune. Especially when you find yourself at the precipice, on the edge of tragedy.
So it has been these last few days.
It all started on Saturday with a trip to Costco. As we shopped the broad aisles of that castle of capitalism, winding our way between boxes of bon bons and towers of toilet tissue, we came upon a bipartisan bonanza we could both agree on: a colossal coupon-less price cut on two products that stoked our particular passions–La Vieille Ferme for my Red wife, and Riondo Prosecco for my own White self. Yes, we somehow have managed a marriage detente even though we have exactly opposite opinions on wine.
Compromise. Such a profound concept, and mutually beneficial to boot. Of course we bought six bottles of Red and six bottles of White! After congratulating each other on our magnanimity, we completed our shopping and stuffed the stuff into the boot of Miss Mini.
Like Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve, Miss Mini was bulging with booty. Arriving in the parking garage at Cool Blow, we worked together to load it all up into the collective shopping cart to wheel it up to the condo. And that’s when disaster struck…
Yes, the fully loaded shopping cart went all Christine on us, careening towards the curb, and without looking back, took a half-gainer off the edge. We both watched as our bipartisan bottles floated in mid-air before crashing to the concrete. Like the crime scene it was, Red liquid quickly spread out over the surface, a giant stain waiting to be outlined in chalk. It was a landslide: every bottle of Red lay vanquished before us. The Whites did not escape unscathed, but survived in a spewing spray of sparkling wine; though the bottles were intact, the bubbly was blowing its bubbles.
Tempting it might have been for Andra to wallow in the lost Reds, and tempting it was to gloat over the survival of the Whites. But for the good of our marriage and as an example to our country, our response was unspoken and spontaneous: We spent the weekend squeezing every last drop of enjoyment from the dregs of our disaster, savoring the sparkling together, toasting to a better day when the rest of our country can manage to find our common ground.
I love you two. You are the perfect meeting of the minds .Cheers.
I don’t know that either of us HAVE minds, after the weekend.
Brilliant. I have to say that I would not have been able to suffer the loss of the red with such equanimity.
I did tear up, Roger. We were stocking up for some upcoming parties, and we were so, so pleased with ourselves.
Nothing wrong with a difference of opinion, as long as there is no twisting of facts or lying going on. I’m impressed… own by-line, photo, video… own blog soon I predict. You should join the Friday Fictioneers, MTM… nice recount, I liked the ‘Christine’ line.
He’s a brilliant writer, Ted.
Not bad at all… get him to do a flash… Of course, you know that I would have rushed right back to Costco to get more Red for Red…
Funny that I was out that way this morning and almost swerved into the parking lot……..
Ha! My favorite store…
Horror of horrors….Reds vanquished and the Queen going to the other side; she has indeed lost her last shred of sanity.
Part of the red was for your party, Lou.
That was wonderful, thank you for that!
It was so funny that one year, we were on our way to the polls, and we were arguing about a referendum that was on the ballot, and I finally said, “Well, at least we will both vote to do away with the mini bottle in South Carolina.” And, MTM said, “No, I’m voting to keep it. I think it’s quaint.”
LOL.
I think that’s an acceptable disagreement. I wonder how my friends, who are married on the extreme opposite sides of the political spectrum, make it all work. You two, it seems, have found the solution in compromise and wine. I like that.
What MTM didn’t say is that we’ve become much more alike as the years have worn on. We both believe our system is fundamentally broken.
Preaching to the choir, of course. I think the two of you and the two of us need to have dinner someday. It’s destiny. (Ah someday, the bad thing about moving back to Massachusetts is I know long have an excuse for a yearly drive across country visiting and meeting people along the way.)
We will be around Boston in January, I think. I will definitely let you know dates.
Ooh, cool. Definitely let me know.
“Compromise. Such a profound concept, and mutually beneficial to boot.” Love this. Need to remind myself of this almost every day!
Compromise is a lot easier when people care about each other.
Wow that is one hell of a crime scene! Heres to my favorite bipartisan couple.
We still didn’t vote for the same candidate this time, but we both diverged from the two main guys. I do think we both voted to keep the governor and lieutenant governor a separate contest in South Carolina, mostly because it’s more entertaining that way.
Wonderful, wonderful post MTM! Inspirational. I think I’ll forward it to the President, the Senate, and the House.
If you don’t include a big, fat check, Lori, no one will read it.
Kudos for this post, MTM; and, Andra, your reply to Lori couldn’t be more appropriate, nor more accurate, although I agree with her thought.
Well, a few of us should send it. Maybe one of them would prove me wrong.
Bill and I are on opposite poles regarding many things, but we do find common ground in common sense and love. He is the eternal pessimist and I’m (still) the eternal optimist, despite some trying life circumstances in the past years.
Opposites do attract, don’t they?
I think they do; at least in my experience. Or perhaps it’s that I wanted/want a partner who has a mind of his own and also wants a partner with a mind of her own.
that was great – thanks for the inspiration and lightness on a day with so much mixed emotion! Cheers you two!
I’m just thankful we didn’t have this little accident inside………..you would’ve killed us.
MTM, that was a masterful analogy of couples and politics, I’m very sorry about the loss of great wine.
It wasn’t great wine, but it was drinkable.
Glad that you both found common ground, MTM, reaching across the parking aisle and acting responsibly in the parking lot. That concrete stain looks a bit like the US, only Florida seems to be missing.
I just drove over it, Penny, and I can’t believe it’s still there.
All good relationships are based on compromise.
Seems to me that you will both have to start drinking Rose
We love rose, actually.
NOOOOOoooOOOOOOO!!!!!
The carnage! I can’t look.
That, there, is alcohol abuse . . .
It abused my heart to watch it happen.
Oh, just arrived to read this….so glad you can both laugh
And that there were dregs to use up! I would have spent the night standing there sniffing. I love the small of red as much as the taste…
I can still smell it today, and it happened on Saturday……
Mmmmmmm……..
As I was reading this I gasped as I had actually been there, a witness to the tragedy. I have tried and tried but I just cannot develop a taste for wine but I can imagine the sorrow especially after such a good deal.
Some port was also involved. And, some Cointreau, though we managed to save the Cointreau………..
I needed this so badly tonight! Thank you for sharing your loss of “the good stuff” so eloquently, and with such an eye towards what is important. I came home from work this afternoon licking my emotional wounds after someone I care about said something really nasty to me about the way the election turned out. I think my one vote must have turned a nation. But, it is about being measured, sensible and responding with reason. I’m going to have a nice glass of red tonight, and toast the two of you!
We had some red, too, Debra. Here’s to you and to remembering what is really important.
Good for you guys. A shared sense of humor is more important to a relationship than just about anything else. Cheers!
Cheers, Nancy.
Oh the humanity!!
This is both the saddest and at the same time most horrifying story that has ever appeared on Andra’s blog. How could you even show pictures of such a horrid and life altering event? I will have nightmares now. And may never be able to set foot in Costco again.
The horror, the horror.