Ten.One Thousand, Four Hundred & Forty-Three

1. Is that the chainsaw again? It’s just past 5:30. You’ve got to be kidding me. I want to run around in the woods in my robe and shake my fist.

2. Cracking crashes of trees.

3. Pen and paper always.

4. I decide to not get too technical in my notes. I keep it simple. Do I like the nose? Do I like the texture? Which one has acid? Do I think it tastes good?

5. We stop for hot dogs at Kelly’s on our way home from camp. I tell her that I need to keep talking with the locals and finding out the hidden gems.

6. I ask the question and try to ask it nonchalantly.

7. But I’m not bluffing.

8. She takes me on a walk while the boys practice. I remember now why we moved here. I came for the beauty and the quiet and the way the setting sun casts its glow over everything.

9. We sit on the bench. She asks who’s up. It’s my son but the app is paused. Nothing is happening. He hit a home run!

10. I tell him that if he was old enough to drink I would have sprayed him with champagne.

11. But it’s not about the home run. It’s seeing what you know is on the inside finally reveal itself to the world. And that smile.