WillThink4Wine

Wine is both pleasing to my palate and soothing to my spirit.

Being the wine-lover than I am, I have to say that in my view there is very little that can’t be improved upon simply by pairing it with a nice glass of wine. Reading a book, a small gathering of family & friends, a quiet evening on the sofa, wine chats with the SisterDears, an airplane flight and even blogging all go well with a nice glass of wine.

Planning a great meal? Pair it with a nice wine that will compliment your food. The right wine actually makes the food taste better, and vice-versa. My best advice to new wine drinkers: Give yourself permission to ignore the white meat, white wine/red meat, red wine rule. If you like it, that’s all that really matters. Personally, I drink reds almost exclusively.

Panic Disorder

I have suffered from Panic Disorder since my early teenage years. Of course, at the time I didn’t know what it was, but I found that if I stayed busy cleaning, it helped a lot. Fortunately, being the oldest of eight children, there was always something to clean!

I also realized that if I allowed myself to become over-tired I was more susceptible to having an Attack. That’s just one of the reasons I try to be in bed by 8:00 every night… That, and when I’m well-rested, I also tend to be in a better mood and therefore less apt to bite someone’s head off!

When I first discovered my love of wine, I also discovered a wonderful Perk! Not only did it taste wonderful, but it relaxed me like nothing else ever had!

I have written before that I have a Love/Hate relationship with flying. I love that it can transport me so quickly to someone I wish to spend time with, but I hate that it also will trigger a Panic Attack.

It’s Wine-Thirty somewhere!

Not long after 9-11, I booked the only available flight into SisterDear2’s airport. It happened to be a very early morning flight, which meant I would not have my coping mechanism available. I finally decided to make an appointment with the doctor. I was hoping for a “magic pill” that I could take for the flight up and back. To make a long story short, he told me to disregard the time of the flight. Since wine works so well for me I was to imagine myself to be an International Traveler - and it was Cocktail hour somewhere! That’s how I got my tagline “It’s Wine-thirty somewhere!”

I’ll admit that I felt a little creepy ordering wine so early in the morning, but I’m so glad I did! In fact, I ordered several of those teeny tiny wine bottles! I had a wonderful flight, and while my fellow passengers may have thought me an alcoholic, they were blissfully unaware of the consequence of being in close proximity of a strapped-in woman in the midst of a full-blown Panic Attack! For three hours!!

Bye-Bye Paxil, Hello, Cabernet!

Tags: Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder, Simple Pleasures, Wine

I have convinced my lovely SisterDear3 to be a Guest Contributor to the WillThink4Wine blog.

Just let me tell you just a little bit about her. Basically, she is every psychiatrist’s dream! Her immediate family (1 hubby, 1 mother-in-law and 4 children) collectively have practically every mental health diagnosis on the planet, and few that perhaps don’t yet have a label. It is never dull at her house.

She sails through each day, replete with turbulent mood swings and various psychoses, with more love, patience, faith and grace than any one person should be blessed with. Mostly, I believe it’s her sense of humor that usually carries her through.

I hope you will enjoy her occasional posts. She cracks me up. Pardon the pun.

She also likes wine and is much too busy to be bothered with hitting the Enter key.

Guest Contributor: SisterDear3

Hello and thanks for the invite! I am still waiting for my marvelous number one child to bless me with her presence. I really get so perturbed when people are late! I just got a call from Kevin’s school nurse. He showed up in her office and told her he was wheezing. Imagine that, he decided he was not going to stay in school today! He actually will panic if there is anything wrong with him. She checked him out and decided he was only panicking and sent him merrily, merrily, merrily, gently back to class. We are also supposed to visit Nancy after the hair appointment so she can see her before going back to school. It’s not looking good time-wise! I have to be back for Kevins’ bus at 2. Nancy by the way has rebounded well. Jim says her middle name should be Phoenix! Well now, If daughterdear would only get here, we could be merrily on our way! #3

1. I am 5′11″
2. I was born in 1954
3. I am owned by 2 cats, both are gray males
4. I live in yellow house; I don’t especially care for yellow houses, but that’s what color it was when I bought it
5. I have been self-employed since 1987
6. I graduated from High School in 1972
7. I got married in 1973
8. I have been divorced since 1994
9. I love big Red Wines
10. I love Chicken
11. I love Chocolate
12. I have 3 sisters and 4 brothers
13. My parents are still happily married to each other
14. I can’t whistle very well
15. I want to go to Italy someday and spend a great deal of time sipping wine through Tuscany, hopefully with my sisters
16. I used to have Pekingese dogs
17. I almost had 2 Labradors, but a week after I brought them home my cats made me take them back
18. I still drive a big car
19. I love Oldies, especially Falsetto and Harmony
20. I love Tenors
21. Mr X took me to a Luciano Pavarotti concert 2 nights before our divorce was final. It was just marvelous, he could still hit the high C’s back then. Pavarotti could, not Mr X
22. I was 11 when I attended my first Concert. It was The Monkees and I had a huge crush on Mike Nesmith… Huge.
23. I am a procrastinator
24. I am an optimist
25. I am a Republican. I’ll never forget the moment when my dad realized that I was not a Democrat. I was raised in Camelot, the magical fairytale land of the Kennedy’s. My Dad still isn’t over it. (Although I will never again vote for any candidate who cannot properly pronounce the word Nuclear.)
26. My hair is still mostly not gray
27. My current favorite TV show is House
28. I dearly loved my mother-in-law and my father-in-law
29. I spent about 15 years in fertility treatment; it was expensive, heartbreaking and unsuccessful.
30. My favorite TV channel is The Science Channel
31. I really dislike watching the news on TV, especially local news
32. I cannot stand commercials
33. I believe that everybody who can vote, should
34. My very favorite smell is a baby, right after a bath
35. I love carnations
36. My favorite colors are Red and Green
37. I married my high school sweetheart
38. My 3 sisters are my best friends
39. I loved the Dick Van Dyke show, the Andy Griffith Show, The Waltons and pretty much all those hokey, family, feel good shows
40. I send coffee back in a restaurant if it is not good
41. I check my french fries at the drive through before I leave and send those back as well, usually with a remark similar to, “no, I want the ones I see on your TV ads and menu pictures”
42. The last time I went to a movie theater was so long ago I don’t remember what I saw
43. I have hundreds and hundreds of books, CD’s, videos and DVD’s
44. I have a green hammock
45. I’ve never attended a high school reunion
46. I made my own Prom dress
47. My favorite car that I’ve ever owned was a Blue 1965 convertible Mustang
48. I wish I’d gone to college instead of getting married
49. I own 3 computers.
50. I miss the Johnny Carson Show; remember back when late night was witty?
51. I go to bed very early, usually by 8:00
52. I love country crafts
53. My biggest single regret is that I did not adopt
54. I believe in love at first sight
55. I believe in God
56. My favorite holiday is Christmas
57. I miss my friends in Florida
58. I regret selling my business in Florida
59. My eyes are blue
60. I have hundreds of Longaberger baskets and lots of pottery
61. I love mornings
62. I never learned to play the piano, at least not yet
63. When I first got married I was so Obsessive-Compulsive that I would actually fluff the pillows on the couch while my guests were sitting on it. I gave that up, it was exhausting. Oddly, I have no problem with dust.
64. I still can’t leave my house if a bed isn’t made
65. I still can’t stand a dirty dish in the sink
66. I refold my laundry after someone who has helped me fold it leaves
67. I can’t fall asleep if the TV isn’t on
68. I believe that we should have a universal heath plan for all US citizens, not just Medicare for retired people
69. I believe that medicine can go too far
70. I believe that science can go too far
71. I am somewhat claustrophobic. I need to know that I can open a window.
72. I have always hated high bridges
73. I have Panic Disorder. The first time I saw someone hyperventilating, I remember thinking “how can someone forget how to breathe”
74. I am a non-smoker stuck in the body of a person who smokes
75. I have a love/hate relationship with flying; I hate it, but I love that it can transport me so quickly to someone that I wish to spend time with
76. I have been to Colorado twice, despite my fear of bridges and ledges
77. I have been to Key West and watched the sunset at Mallory Square, despite the 44 bridges I had to cross to get there
78. I value my privacy and solitude
79. I love large gatherings
80. I have never had a proper massage
81. I have been on a cruise to the Caribbean
82. I adore old family pictures
83. I miss my grandmothers
84. I still remember how the town I grew up in smelled the first day we moved in
85. I love black licorice & Fire Balls
86. I can’t cook without garlic
87. I have had the pleasure of personally introducing several people to the joy of reading
88. My favorite vacation spot is on the lake in Maine
89. I love the wail of a Loon
90. I really don’t like to wear shoes
91. I wear slippers while I’m at work
92. I have been on a sleigh ride, a hay ride and a horse-drawn carriage
93. I have been kicked by a horse
94. I shook the hands of many pilots, commercial and military and have actually played bingo with a licenced commercial pilot
95. I start praying for my pilot about 2 weeks before my flight
96. I believe that attorneys have changed everything, not necessarily for the better
97. I have a friend who is an attorney
98. I believe that a person is only as good as their word
99. I believe that love is a verb
100. I believe that every day really is a new beginning

Got this in an email today. I don’t know who wrote it, but I believe they may know a number of my family members…

• Schizophrenia — Do You Hear What I Hear?
• Multiple Personality Disorder — We Three Kings Disoriented Are
• Dementia — I Think I’ll be Home for Christmas
• Narcissistic — Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
• Manic — Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and…..
• Paranoid — Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
• Borderline Personality Disorder —Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
• Personality Disorder — You Better Watch Out, I’m Gonna Cry, I’m Gonna Pout, Maybe I’ll Tell You Why
• Attention Deficit Disorder — Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder — Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,

WillThink4Wine

Industry: Business Services
Occupation: Self Employed
Location: The Deep South : GA : United States

About Me
The very best job I could ever imagine is one that would pay me to think… the currency would be wine, preferably big reds!

I am the oldest of eight (four of each) and the sisterdears are my very best friends. We all enjoy wine, music and family. We share many other common interests and have many more differences, but that is the Spice of Life.

I have been self-employed for a bit more than 20 years and have just started my second business. Yipes! It seemed easier and less scarier the first go-round.

I am divorced and I have two absolutely adorable gray cats. More than a fair trade, if you ask me

Just after my divorce, while I was mid-panic attick prior to a flight to visit my family up north, my very nice, very smart old country doctor asked me how I had coped with panic attacks in the past. I told him “I clean everything in sight and have a glass or two of red wine”. He laughed and said to me “Well, you are an international traveler and it’s Cocktail Hour somewhere”. I have tailored his remark to suit me. “It’s Wine-thirty somewhere”.

Interests
Wine
God
parents
sisters
family
friends
cats
music
books
sitting by the fire
Italian food
chicken
chocolate
cookies
my job

Favorite Movies
On Golden Pond
The American President
Moonstruck
Armageddon
Independence Day
Lord of the Rings
Murphy’s Romance

Favorite Music
Tenors
Piano
Cello
Violin
James Taylor
Josh Groban
Beatles
George Strait
way too much to list

Favorite Books
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbitt
Luanne Rice
John Grisham
tons more…