I said I might come back to blog on occasions, and I do believe last May 16 was an occasion, as my wife and I hit sixty years of marriage.
We celebrated by going to our youngest daughter's home in Indialantic FL (near Melbourne on the east coast of Florida). My eldest daughter and husband who live outside Toledo OH and my middle daughter from Atlanta joined us for a dual celebration: our anniversary on the Thursday and the graduation from high school of my 18-year old grandson the next day, who incidentally graduated with a 4.0 average for four years from an academic high school where 111 out of a class of 154 had a 3.5 average or better. I have to be a proud grandfather and say that the grandson was one of a select group of valedictorians.
My two sons-in-law, who love to cook, really did it up right. We brought with us a large filet of beef, and then my two sons-in-law went to a local fresh seafood store and bought lobsters, clams, shrimp, crab and scallops, to which they added corn on the cob and sausages, for a real low country boil to augment the steaks. We pigged out happily, as you can imagine.
In addition, I brought with us a bottle of Burgundy I have owned for forty-odd years to be saved for a special occasion. At my wife's and my ages and on such an anniversary, we figured it doesn't get any more "special". I was scared to death that the bottle might have turned to vinegar by this time.
This wine, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, is one of the four premier grand crus (first great growths) ,the original first wines in the French classification of wines. A bottle of this wine today costs between $800-$1000 in its best years. I got a deal on it back in the seventies from a wine merchant with whom I did a fair amount of business and paid under $40.00 for it.
I wish I could tell you that it was the greatest bottle of wine I ever drank---but I can't. But it wasn't vinegar, either. The cork had started to disintegrate so that the wine had oxidized to some extent, affecting the quality to some degree. It was still good and drinkable, and everyone, kids included, got some. Even if the wine was not at its best, the symbolism was terrific!
A great time was had by all. Maybe my wife and I can shoot for 70???
