It was only a dinner yet the night was just beginning.

      Recently, there was an announcement in our church bulletin that Father Joe was hosting a wine pairing dinner at the Phoenix restaurant for a set price. It would be on a Monday night when the restaurant is usually closed. What fun. The restaurant would be filled with only our friends and it was going to be a gourmet 5 course dinner. Why not?! No decisions need to be made – just conversation. Evan and I are active at the parish. Certainly we would know everyone there. Aww right. Not true. Don’t ever think you are a big shot. When we opened up the door to the restaurant, we looked at each other and said…do you know anyone? True we knew Father Joe and our friend Anne but very few others.

      Finding a table to sit was a bit awkward. But once you sat down and started being served wine and food; heck conversation started to flow. I remember thinking that the noise level went up substantially around course 3 and 4. It was around this time when a waiter bumped into Evan with a nice deep red wine. Maybe not bumped; maybe poured? No, no it was an accident. Dark red wine all the way down Evan’s shirt. Everyone gasped and waited for his reaction. To everyones surprise; he didn’t care. He wasn’t mad. He laughed and said…”Who cares??!! It’s only a shirt!”and then proceeded to dance in a circle and show off his mega stain. Isn’t it true that in every situation, we are given a chance to influence others in our response? The Chinese meaning of “crisis” has two interpretations: danger, and opportunity. In all siutations we have the ability to get angry when we are wronged. Yet, we also have the ability to make an opportunity for whatever we wish, a new joke between new friends, a learning experience, and the opportunity to influence others by our actions. But by laughing it off, and realizing that a stained shirt is nothing in the scheme of life, we can send a powerful message out there. Evan did not ask for the shirt to be cleaned. No, it’s just a shirt! I heard him say “I’m just gonna toss this baby”, right after I watched him leave a tip.

     Here are a few clues that you have too many shirts. Maybe you can’t close your closet or your dresser drawers. Maybe you have shirts at the dry cleaners and don’t even miss them. Maybe you find your self buying more hangers to hang up all your shirts. Maybe its time you and a couple of your friends go out for a few glasses of wine and get rid of some!!

    My message to you is anything can be tossed and nothing should not be taken too seriously. Be easy on yourself and one another. The seriousness of life will bring you down, but only if you let it. We all make mistakes, we all find ourselves in a crisis. But our job is not to make people feel badly about it, it is to accept a new opportunity, and who knows, you may find yourself happier and with a new story to tell because you did.

Tags : Dinner, Inspiration, Wine