Memories of Mom: The Wine Fairy

My mom was a very welcoming person, especially as she got a little older and more comfortable with herself. My friends always fell in love with her and enjoyed spending time with her.

One time, when I was in my mid- to late-20s, I took my two best girlfriends with me to visit my mom and her husband for the weekend. It was about a five-hour drive, so I didn't take people over often, and this was my girlfriends' first visit.

It was summer and quite hot out (Mom lived in Eastern Washington then, which is a high-altitude desert), so on Saturday we girls got into our shorts and lay on the back lawn to catch some sun. We hadn't been out there that long when it began to rain. Rainstorms in the summer in that area mean thunder and lightning, and with most things being brown and dry in the summer, lightning means fires. It wasn't long before the police scanner began squawking out news of various wildfires. We could see the smoke from many of them as some of them headed north toward our neighborhood. It was turning out to be a more exciting day than I had planned for my friends.

So, changed into more suitable clothing for the sudden drop in temperature, we stood in the living room watching the storm move down the Columbia River Gorge, watching the wildfires, and listening to the police scanner.

My mom and her husband liked wine. I liked wine. My girlfriends liked wine. So Mom poured all of us glasses and we sipped while we watched Mother Nature's entertainment for the afternoon. 

The thing about the wine was that our glasses were never empty. My glass got close to empty a time or two, but then I'd pick it up and it would be full again. Same thing happened with my girlfriends. We never actually saw my mom filling our or each others' glasses, but we sometimes heard them being filled. The next thing we knew, we had full glasses again. This led to a series of photos that in turn led to a series of threats about if they ever saw the light of day. (I need to find those ....)

Thus began the legend of The Wine Fairy, who would magically keep your wine glass full, even in the face of thunderstorms and wildfires. Ever after that weekend, my girlfriends would ask about The Wine Fairy, not "how's your mom?" 

The Wine Fairy abilities are apparently not heritable, because while I can keep your wine glass full, you'll always see me doing so.