Missed Calling?

Yesterday at The Wine Country, me standing at the register when I spy a longtime customer;

Me- “Hey Larry, how you doing”

Larry- “Doing well Sam how are you?”

Me- “Pretty good, trying to stay busy”

Larry- “Hey Sam, I think you missed your calling”

Me- “Really…what’s that Larry?”

Larry- “You should be writing”

Me- (laughing) “I do write, for the newsletter and I have a blog now”

Larry- “I don’t know if I’m old enough to read your blog…might have to get permission. You should be writing those airport romance novels”

Me- (nervous laughter and stammering) “You…you should see the stuff I write that no one gets to read”


We both laugh, he gathers his wines and leaves….he just left, leaving me standing behind the register with Merritt and Ronnie wondering just what the hell I wrote that would inspire such a comment. I reached for the December newsletter knowing full well that I wrote very little other than write ups and as I flipped through the pages I was met with nothing but G rated material…sure there was some “passion” in some of the musings about a few of the wines, (in the actual write ups) but lusty page turners? I think not. I plopped the newsletter back down on the pile and announced, “Larry needs to get out more” while executing my coolest, “whatever” walk out onto the sales floor…didn’t want anyone to see how shocked, embarrassed and perplexed I was.



It was an exhausting day at The Wine Country yesterday, this season has started off so strange…we would be slammed one second then the store would be empty the next. It felt like there was a stream of busses that would drop off a load of shoppers every forty minutes or so, we were on a roller coaster, go, go one second and now what the next…takes a bigger toll than when it is slammed the whole day, least when it is busy the whole day the day is over before you know it….this nothing then a line at the register stuff jerks you around a bit. By quitting time I was drained….I grabbed my computer bag, my box of wine for the weekend and crawled to my car.


As I closed the driver’s side door I was instantly enveloped in silence…peaceful, blissful quiet, not wanting it to end I pulled my hand back from the ignition and deposited the keys in the center console. I leaned back and let the curves of the seat wrap around me, took in deep chest expanding breaths, comforted by the smells of my car…my smells, let my eyelids shut and there I sat in the dark, body cradled with the only sound being that of the air entering and leaving my work weary body. I’m not exactly sure how long I was there but I was startled out of my peaceful state by a set of headlights that slashed through my car, a customer pulling into the parking lot and a reminder that I was not in some dark cave with someone’s strong arms wrapped around me….I was still at work and it was time for me to head home.



The sound of my car starting was a stark contrast to the gentle silence I had been snuggled into, it sounded hard, metallic and extra loud in my puddle like state. I grabbed the remote for my XM radio in a desperate attempt to find something soothing, (a note to the XM radio folks…instead of having the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac playing on every other channel why not have an Eagles and Fleetwood Mac station….just sayin). I rubbed my thumb up and down the remote pushing the buttons looking for music to match my mood, nothing seemed to fit and I found that I was paying more attention to the way the smooth buttons felt beneath my fingers…the pads were spongy and gave with just the slightest amount of pressure. I was getting no pleasure from the radio so I reached for my CD’s…two flips of the pages that cradle my beloved music and I found exactly what I needed, what I wanted, Dave Matthews.


When the world ends, collect your things you’re coming with me his raspy voice found its way from my ears to my chest causing me to take a deep breath, so deep it made me sit higher, my back pressed hard against the seat, my teeth digging into my bottom lip until I had to let the air free from my chest….exhale….with the freeing air my spine seemed to follow, my back and shoulders gave a bit and my heart was pounding hard and fast in my chest.


I cracked the window and the harsh salt scented world filled the cavity of my car, swirled around me, the sound of tires on the road, the smell of exhaust from the truck in front of me the very real and very urban aroma and sounds washed over me and for a moment shook me from my intense little bubble but the lyrics brought me back..

The passion rises up from the ashes when the cities fall, oh you know when the world ends we’ll be making love…I want to take you aside and watch them all fade away, fade away…I want you for me…..You’re legs don’t work cuzz you want me…Oh you know when the world ends…



There was something so sensual about the whole scene, my fingers gripping the steering wheel, the salty, diesel kissed air blowing my hair across my face, little strands sticking to my lips and brushing against my neck causing my entire body to tingle….the screech of tires on the asphalt as someone takes a hard right turn and a raspy voice growling words of passion, sex and destruction in my ears…each element vying for my attention and me giving a little bit of myself to each…I felt like I was getting stolen kisses…you know the ones, when you are in a room with someone you want more than anything and you have only a few seconds to kiss and touch each other before someone else walks into the room, its raw, rough, intense and in that moment the sexiest few seconds ever…


I pulled into my parking space, turned off my car….my chest was heaving, my legs were shaking and I was thinking, “What the hell was Larry talking about?!”