Logistics, Pinor Noir and Such

Anyone who knows me and Christian knows that he's the organizer and I'm.... not. We jokingly refer to me as 'the idea guy' who might say something crazy like 'We should go to Hawaii for a week', but then the next day, Christian will have multiple flight itineraries and hotel options to select from. Our wedding was a perfect illustration of this-- although I had a lot of grand ideas (it should be black-tie elegant.... we should have a martini bar..... we should have lots of color... and of course I don't want a seated buffet dinner......), if it hadn't been for all of the hours of work Christian put in, we probably would have had our commitment celebration on the back porch of our house in DC with catering from McDonald's.

From time to time, we'd have an argument about it or two, but my rationale was always something along the lines of 'but you LIKE to plan, and I don't, so doesn't it work in the end?' Details were never really my strength, and since someone else was so ready to take care of it, I just stepped back.

However, in a strange turn of events, or perhaps a bit of growing up on my part, I've taken over the role of 'Logistics Man', as I call it, of late, and I'm beginning to see what the fun of it all is. It started this summer when Christian went to New York for his internship and he told me he was frightened that they would shut off the electricity at the house because I would forget to pay the bill or they would foreclose the house because I would forget to pay the mortgage. But the summer passed without incident, including multiple travel plans I had to execute, and I was getting the hang of this stuff. But a big test came last weekend-- our best friends Phil and Ted were visiting from DC, Christian was totally socked in with school work, and Matt and Michael were going to be out of town, so who was left to make a plan for their visit? Especially for Phil, who effortlessly orchestrates rafting and ski trips for over 75 people?!!! Never fear, Logistics Man is here!

There are few things I like more than getting together good friends of mine who have never met before. It's something about the mixture of people who know me from different walks of my life and seeing what happens when they get blended together that really gives me a charge. And what better way to do that than to rent a limo and take a tour up to wine country?

Starting with the two of us and Phil and Ted, we asked Kevin and Juan to join, since they knew P&T from DC. Then to raise the interest factor just a bit more, we threw in our some our best-loved SF buds, Titus and Maria. I was pretty sure it was going to be fun, but you never know how these things will turn out-- will it be legendary fun or will there be a steely silence like at those family reunions when Uncle Larry tells the same joke he's been telling for 20+ years?

I'm happy to report all went well. We paid visit to three different wineries on our 6-hour tour and with the 'you can't sit in the same seat you did in the limo before' rule, a continual mixture of new and old friends sat next to each other. A flow of wine and fun, emotional, and silly stories filled the limo. As you can see from the picture, everyone ended up integrating nicely and it was really a great day for all involved.

As much fun as it all was, the continual 'thank you's' from people I love were even more sweet-- after all, without Logistics Man, we may well have ended up hanging out at the McDonald's all day! I'm getting that its not only the fact that you get to enjoy stuff you plan, you also get to see people you care about it enjoy and know that you helped make it happen.

I'm sure that once school settles down a bit for Christian, he will resume wanting to plan things, which will be great. But it's nice to know, if I need to, I can reach into the closet, dust off that "LM" cape, and feel confident to plan things as well.