I Said Yes

At around 8am I was pounced on by the lumberjack himself. In my drowsy state I realized he was dressed…laughing and trying to coax me out of bed. He bounced on me a few times and literally tried to tickle me into submission. I wondered if I had dreamed all the stuff from the day before…I couldn’t figure out why the huge change in mood and attitude, so I just played back…let it go…and decided to just go with it. Clearly, he was feeling better…about what I wasn’t sure…but he sure was in a better space than the night before. With some curiosity floating around my brain I decided to get up and hop in the shower. He gave me grief for not being a morning person and he smacked me on the ass as I walked past him…though confused and intrigued about the change…I just chalked it up to it being a new day and was not going to question it.

“Come on…we gotta go…brunch at Dave & Diane’s…get a move on”

“Coming, coming…leave me alone…”

I finished with the shower, toweled off and pulled on some clothes. Still not really getting the sudden change, I asked him what the plan was as I was getting the pups ready to go out for their morning walk (I had brought the pups with me on this trip for fear of them feeling neglected). He grabbed the leashes from me and said “I got this…”and out the door they went. I just kind of stood there wondering who this guy was and what happened to Michael. A few minutes later the three of them returned and Michael gave the pups their treats. They were clearly as enamored with this guy as I was, but I was not going to question…I mean I had heard that dogs are a better judge of character than most people, so I was just gonna go with it.

We hopped in Michael’s truck and headed towards his folk’s place. He had the music going and he was humming along and whistling…windows down (even though it was only about 30 degrees out) and…well…just clearly in a great mood. With a fear of bringing him down I popped off about the sudden, overnight change in his mood.

“You let me vent…and you let me tell you what I thought…and you let me get it off my chest…so I kinda felt like I needed to try and make today a good day…not let shit bug me and not sulk over stuff. I guess I just need to get with dad and face this thing head on…and let the chips fall into place so to speak”

“I am impressed…and I got to tell ya…I was really worried last night”

“I know…and I am sorry for the dump on you…I just felt like things were closing in and all of my stuff was screwed up”

“So today…we are just gonna take it as it comes?”

“Yep…take it as it comes…that’s all we can really do I suppose”

We arrived at the house and were greeted by Diane outside. She gave us a each a big hug and a squeeze and then she turned to Michael…

“Your dad is really, really concerned about the way things were last night. If you don’t think you are in the mood for this then I don’t think we should continue the conversation today…”

“Mom, I am good and I think we should get on with this”

Diane responded with a smile and then it occurred to me that this was the first time I had heard Michael call her mom. She was, in fact, his stepmom as his real mother passed away from cancer when Michael was around a year old. Diane and Dave got married when Michael was about 3 or 4 years old, so she is the only mother he has really known. Michael barged into the house and found his dad sitting at the kitchen table. The smell of bacon was in the air and there was juice and some sparkling wine on the table. As per Diane’s personality…the dining room table was set for four and it looked like she was expecting some high-level VIP’s to be joining them. As usual, no detail was left out when it came to her table. Dave and Michael shook hands as did Dave and I. Michael asked him if he listened to the Seahawks game last nite and they jawwed a bit about football…the weather…about some blends that Chris was working on and other general chit chat.

We sat down to brunch and Dave started to explain to Michael what the doctors were saying, what they thought the course of treatment should be and what to expect from all of that. I noticed that Michael got a bit quiet, but he was clearly in a better place then he was the previous evening. The talk then turned to some serious business. They talked about Dave’s will and about the structure of the business. Dave had clearly thought the business side of things through. He indicated that he wanted Diane and Michael to both continue in their roles…she as the face of the winery and tasting room and Michael as the winemaker, artist (Michael did all the artwork for labeling, posters, brochures and the website) and representative of the Cellars. I could tell that Michael’s head was spinning but he was generally supportive of his dad’s plan and wishes. I could also tell that his mood was changing slightly but he was holding it together. Without pointing to an actual date on the calendar Dave talked with Diane and Michael about “target” dates for a transition…an announcement…and the paperwork that would need to be handled regarding the business ownership and leadership. Dave handed Michael a large manilla envelope with several forms and papers that needed to be reviewed, signed and returned to their legal team and Michael committed to taking care of all of that in the next few days.

All in all, things went well considering the topic and the tone of the information. Once the serious stuff was over, we sat around the table just yapping about unimportant things. They asked about the holiday events at the restaurant, about Corey and, in general, about how things were going for me. After a few hours we decided to get out of there. I was needing to start to get ready for my trip back to Seattle in the morning and I was feeling like I wanted to spend what time I had just with Michael.

On the way back Michael pulled into the little dive bar he/we liked. He wanted to grab a couple of cocktails and then wanted to swing by the grocery store to grab some stuff for dinner. As we sat at the bar, I kept looking out the window at the snow coming down. I told him I was a bit worried about the conditions and getting over the pass tomorrow. He pulled up weather info on his phone and the forecast showed it was supposed to clear a bit tomorrow so I was somewhat relieved. It was a 4-hour drive without any delays so I was really hoping the snow would let up…and I didn’t have tire chains in my car!

We did stop at the store and grabbed a couple of steaks and potatoes to cook. Michael decided he would BBQ the steaks and we would just have a mellow evening on the couch with a good meal and a movie. I was all in for that idea. The past few days had been somewhat chaotic and a relaxing evening sounded just fine.

Dinner done and halfway thru a bottle of wine we nestled in on the couch for a good old-fashioned horror (vampire) flick. Though he kind of dozed on and off during the movie Michael perked up when the credits came on. I had to chuckle because he tried to make it seem as though he had seen the whole thing and, even though I knew better, I let it go. He looked at me with a serious face and told me that he didn’t want me to leave…he wanted me to stay a few more days…I reminded him that he had brokered this deal with Corey and I couldn’t really go back on it plus we had all kinds of business to take care of at the restaurant. 6 holiday functions in the next week and then, bam, Christmas was here. Michael offered to come to Seattle and help out at the restaurant and, while I appreciated his offer, I jokingly told him he had no clue about the operation and then, on a serious note, I told him that I thought he needed to stick around for his family. I nodded and told me he understood and that he was going to really miss me. It was at that point that he got this sparkle in his eye and said…

“Hey…there is one thing that you do have to help me with tonite…get your coat on…

At that point he disappeared into his room and came back out with a pair of snow boots and gloves in his hand. I was confused but he had that damn grin on his face again…

“What happened to our nice, relaxing, warm night in?”

“We gotta go up the hill for something and I need your help…I totally forgot about it until just now”

“What the hell”

“Get your coat and boots on…lets go”

“Shit”