Becoming prepared to move on to new things in our lives seems to be accompanied by this wonderful crushing, pressing and waiting process. It’s not unlike grapes that are destined to become a fine wine. Here you are hanging around enjoying days in the sunshine and nights in the cool breeze with a bunch of your closest friends. Ah, life is great and it surely couldn’t get any better than this. BUT WAIT!!

One day without so much as a word of warning you are cut down, taken to a new place, thrown into a large vat then someone or something starts stomping the juice right out of you. What the…??? You end up a mashed, deflated mess and life as you know it is no more. The squeeze is put on you till there is nothing left in you. Your life’s blood is then filtered, fermented, bottled and set in a dark place for maybe years. The pulp from your former life is now chicken or pig feed or maybe it gets composted and used to nourish another bunch of grapes so that they may grow and enjoy the same fate as you. Either way…what was your life is now a load of leftovers fit to fertilize and little else.

A handful of grapes may sell for a few cents or in a tough economy maybe a dollar. However, a curious thing happens as a result of all this activity. The juice of these same grapes that has been extracted and fermented in the right conditions for a significant period of time becomes infinitely more valuable. A bottle of quality wine (not Three Buck Chuck) can cost hundreds of dollars, not just a few cents. What’s the difference? The processing and the passing of time in the proper conditions produce a precious product that can be savored in a way that the simple grape cannot.

It isn’t a lot of fun to have everything you are familiar with torn away, crushed and discarded. Nevertheless, it’s the eventual result that tells the true story of the pain and process that has prepared you for the coming season of your life.

Dean Blodgett