I think it is fair to say that if you are raising a young family and leading a professional life, that life can be quite busy and oftentimes chaotic. The term "life-work balance" tends to have a different meaning when you're in the midst of fighting the good fight. Kid's school and activities become a chore that must be managed, personal appointments need to fit into the busy week schedule, and work priorities become critical with increased pace of performance resulting in working long hours. Through it all, we try to make the best of the hours, days, weeks, and years....and before we know it, time has passed us by and leave us wondering what was accomplished in the whirlwind of life. If gone unchecked, this pace can impact our mental health and ultimately not giving us the capacity to decompress and truly appreciate the blessings we have been given.
My wife and I have been cognizant of this, and although we don't often take long trips together, we do enjoy short weekend trips to explore our surrounding and be present with each other. Recently, however, we decided to do something we have talked about for years, we decided to explore Virginia's Wine Country and give wine a try. And although, the goal was to come back with a new appreciation for wine, what we return with was a new appreciation of life and those around us. We enjoyed being by ourselves, connecting with each other, laugh at exploring the intricacies of the wine world, and the new wine tasting lingo that felt like learning a different language. In the end, we agreed that we would create our own language to appreciate wine, continue to be our genuine selves, and appreciate being present with each other with a renewed commitment to love.
Prospect Hill Inn
Our weekend experience commenced with our stay at a beautiful and historic Bed and Breakfast in Louisa, VA. This was our first stay in this beautiful inn and quite honestly a chance booking that we do not regret. Prospect Hill Inn was a fantastic experience and a beautiful and peaceful place to enjoy nature, peace of mind, fantastic hosts, and an amazing culinary experience. We stayed in the manor house, but the inn also has several bungalows around the property for a different experience.
We checked in on Friday, and this afforded us an opportunity to take advantage of a five course dinner being offered by the inn for Valentine's Day Weekend. We opted for this option as we wanted to spend some time exploring the grounds and enjoy some quiet time by the fireplace. We would have missed an amazing culinary experience had we chosen to go to town and eat dinner. Our dinner consisted of poire a la beaujolaise, winter squash bisque, fresh spinach and arugula salad with gorgonzola and house vinaigrette, Filet mignon in a red wine reduction, herb crusted salmon in a bed of risotto with roasted seasonal vegetables, and finished it with creme brûlée.....and of course wine pairings for our dinner. To say it was delicious is an understatement, but perhaps one of those special moments of the evening was getting to know the Inn proprietors, Terenee ("T") and Jim.
T and Jim are a great example of husband and wife creating something special. T is the face of the Inn, you will see her everywhere and her energy is contagious. She is quick to help you with your stay, recommend places to visit while in the Charlottesville area, and make you feel at home during the stay. She takes tremendous pride in what she and Jim have created. Jim is not as visible as T; however, that is because he is in his happy place in the kitchen. You see, Jim is the Chef of the inn, and you can certainly taste the love and passion for his craft in every meal you will enjoy. He is an avid gardner and is looking forward to planting his crops and using them for the amazing meals he will be preparing. He recently planted over 7,000 bulbs around the Inn in preparation for the spring and the burst of color these flowers will add to his property. Our conversation with them was a great experience to learn about their passion and their vision of the Inn's future was a refreshing experience.
Overall, our time at Prospect Hill was a welcoming repose to our busy lives. A time to disconnect from the grind, engage in meaningful and wonderful conversations, and to simply embrace the presence of each other giving thanks for our blessings. Our suite was perfect for us, with a fireplace, and one of the most comfortable beds I've ever experienced. After all, as T told us, they took significant pride and effort to offer a wonderful bed and breakfast for their guests...mission accomplished T and Jim! We are certainly looking forward to returning and enjoying another stay at Prospect Hill Inn, and perhaps enjoy the poolside movies, stargazing picnic and firefly experience they are looking to hold in the spring and summer.
World of Wine
Our wine experience was somewhat of a journey into the unknown. While I have enjoyed wine in the past and know enough about the different wines to know what I like and don't like, I am by no means remotely close about telling you the differences between them. My wife, has enjoyed wine, but at risk of shocking the wine purist, she enjoys them with with a splash of soda or juice and her venture into wines is limited; she prefers the fruity drinks with those paper umbrellas. So, because we are newbies, we decided to do this right and booked an estate tasting at Pippin Hill Winery. This experience was good, but a little on the academic side of things where we learned about the differences in wine, their pH levels, acidity, alcohol content, stainless steel or wood cask fermentation, etc....and while I do like nerding out on science, in the end we decided to just let our tastebuds do their thing. We started with white wines and progressed to red wines...light to dark with equal increase in taste complexity. The experience also allowed us to experience lunch at the winery where we order some delicious food and spent several hours enjoying our company and taking in the beautiful landscape.
During the next couple days we also visited Hazy Mountain Vineyard which was a recommendation from one of the staff members at Pippin Hill, and Merry Mill Vineyard as a recommendation from one of the Inn guests. Our newbie impression of the former was the it offered one of the most beautiful views we've seen, but the atmosphere was more reminiscence of a bar than a winery, but maybe that's because Pippin Hill had set the bar for vineyard. We did enjoyed a glass of wine, my wife choosing a rose which she enjoyed, but not anything she wanted to bring home; I grabbed a pinot noir. Personally, I think the atmosphere was a bit more chilled and I can see how this would be a fantastic place to come in the warmer weather and enjoy an afternoon with friends; the views are beautiful.
Merry Mill was something that was not on our radar, but glad we visited. It is located in Keswick, VA and as soon as you enter the facility you know you're in for something different. A uniquely decorated fireplace with a zebra head welcomes you to the main tasting room, and if you glance to the left of the entrance you will also notice a seal (real life size) floating into the ceiling on balloons. We agreed that this was one of our favorite vineyards we visited during our long weekend, mostly because the staff was very welcoming and accommodating, the food was amazing, and the atmosphere was fun and relaxing. And while the views were not those of Hazy Mountain or Pippin Hill, the atmosphere, friendliness of staff, and wine was by far our favorite. This was the winery were we both agreed on bringing home their wine and a place we would love to revisit with our friends.
Press Pause
The world that we live in now will control our lives, if we let it. These are times were we are always connected, where our kids activities take precedence over our own needs, where work will take every ounce of your effort, if you let it...all for the hopes that it makes a difference in our lives and those around us. Our lives are on constant state of play, sometimes we wish we could fast forward it, sometimes we wish for the rewind button especially when we have lost precious times with loved ones, but rarely do we push the pause button.
The pause button allows us to take stock of what we accomplished in life. It provides the freedom to self-assess and develop path forwards. It provides the time needed to recenter with your soul to become a better version of ourselves. It provides the space to reconnect with our loved ones and appreciate their contributions to our lives. And it allows us to be human and have those genuine connections away from the noise that we get saturated with on a daily basis.
And although my wife and I are back to our daily grind, we come back with a new sense of what's important in our lives. We come back with an appreciation for the life that we have built together raising our precious sons, and we come back with an appreciation for our family and friends whom have traveled in this journey with us. We also come back with an appreciation of those around us that are building their dreams, are currently in play mode, and longing for the day to press pause.
Let's look forward with hope, not backwards with regret!
