Em-pha-sis.

Yesterday, my family gathered together to catch up and eat and drink and laugh at my aunt's house. As is tradition, the beer fridge was full and there were glasses of wine (with ice cubes, no judgement.) As I went searching for something to drink that was not a liter of pino grigio, I opened my aunt and uncle's liquor cabinet to discover that they had some amazing bottles of wine in there.

"Stephanie, you can drink whatever you want in there, just not the bottle of champagne. Most of it are gifts people give us anyway."

"You guys, this is really good wine. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I don't really care about wine, I like Barefoot!"

"BUT. BUT. THIS IS REALLY GOOD WINE. ARE YOU SURE?!"

They were sure. I got to drink these two bottles of wine:

There is a lesson here. First, buy my aunt excellent wine so that I may drink it. Second, it is important to know where we put our emphasis in life. In yoga, we call this intent. My aunt is a lovely person who knows how to enjoy life with love and laughter and passion. She has amazing fashion taste and is well read. I say all this because her lack of interest in wine has nothing to do with her sophistication. She just doesn't really care to put her time or energy into it. 

And that is so wonderful. 

As a young woman, I worked for a fabulous lady named Mame. Mame had the best taste in everything. Especially assistants, but I digress. The level of wine in my aunt's cabinet was Mame level good. Mame loved a good glass of wine or champagne. It was something she took pride in knowing about but was not overly fussy about. I aspired to be like Mame. I still do.

Now, if I am being honest, I only sorta knew this was good wine just based on the labels. They were all in French, a good clue. The first bottle is a name I remembered from good times with Mame and my time working at John J Jeffries. So, my interest in good wine is more than my aunts but I would rather spend the money on good bourbon. I know this shocks you. Luckily, my friend Todd sells wine for a living and is not only very smart but has a palate I trust when it comes to this things. Even luckier? He'll answer the phone when I call with silly questions like "should i drink this wine? is it expensive? will i like it?"

But here is the point I am trying to make and it is not even about wine. You can chose what matters to you. You can chose what you spend your time and brain energy on. You can chose the people you love, the activities you do and how you feel about it. Your life is yours. You intention and emphasis and energy is yours.

You don't have to pretend to like fancy wine or fancy people or fancy bullshit if you don't like it. The people who like you and love you and want to be with you will like you and love you and be with you even if you put ice cubes in your cheap (or oh my god) even your fancy wine. 

They just will. 

But it was delicious wine. It really was.

On a side note, I just want to thank those of you who have been so supportive of me while I am down here in Miami with my family as we face my uncle's medical issues. You all have brightened my day and your support is so very appreciated. Xo.