The Celebration of Andy
March 4th of this week, marked the one-year anniversary of Andy’s stroke. Last year on the 4th we were supposed to go to a Palisade Wine Club (PWC) event at Restoration Vineyards. As the 4th was after his birthday but before mine, and Lee’s, a friend of ours, who shares the same birthday with me, Andy decided to order a cake for the event. The gathering took place which included the cake; however, Andy and I weren’t there as we were in ICU. Andy had his stroke that morning.
So, I decided we needed a “redo” and the Celebration of Andy “I’m not Dead Yet” came to be. The later quote comes from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. There is a whole skit about bringing out your dead and one of the characters that was supposed to be dead, wasn’t… Andy referenced it a lot while he was at Craig Hospital and when he was in ICU at St. Mary’s he and two other friends of ours who were visiting rambled off the whole scene right there in Andy’s hospital room. It only seemed fitting that we include it in the invitation.
I ran the idea by Gary, our friend who also happens to own Restoration and he was totally game. My friend Lisa Kennedy helped me design the invite and I broadcast it through social media. We also invited folks via word of mouth, and text message. Basically, we invited all our “village” and beyond.
In addition, I ordered the same cake from Slice O Life bakery in Palisade. I structured the event like the PWC, in that folks were responsible for buying their own drinks and I supplied the cake. The purpose of Palisade Wine Club is to bring people together and support our local wineries during the off season. I figured why not have Andy’s event do the same thing. I had no idea how many folks would show up but I was hopeful.
The day of the event came, it was a sunny, warm evening so we opted to set up on the outdoor patio which is my favorite place to hang out at Restoration. I got Andy settled by the fire; he tends to get cold more easily thanks to the blood thinners he must take. This one-year mild stone also meant he could enjoy wine again! Gary did a little tasting with him so he could decide on the bottle. Our friends slowly started to arrive. One of them bought the bottle of wine for us. Other friends brought muchies, and still more friends arrived. In the end the patio was packed with people! Friends from our “village,” church, from PWC, other friends we’ve meant over the last couple of years at other wineries and neighbors! It was amazing! I made a short speech thanking them all for coming and their friendship and the cake was cut and served.
It was awesome…I feel so blessed to be a part of this amazing community. Andy and I truly love living in Palisade. We are now looking forward to year two of his recovering and now that he is able to enjoy wine, increasing our social life (within reason of course!)
