I spent the 4th of July with close friends and family at the winery. It was a lovely day full of laughter and wine and food.
And just as the sun was setting we made our way to the top of Sachau Vineyard, one of our pre-eminent sites for world-class Cabernet. The heat of the day had mellowed, a soft breeze came in from the Bay, fireworks winked like fireflies down below in town.
We watched from the bed of a pickup – drinking great wine – the kids race the dogs up and down the hill. The full and beautiful moon then rose like a spotlight behind the hills to the east and we all lost our breaths and were compelled by the same otherworldly synchrony of being there at that place at that time with that group of people knowing the specialness of the moment and knowing that it was likely those young kids would recount (like my grown kids do the magic of Lake Powell or the simple shoulder-loosening wonder of the beach at Capitola) forever, that glorious night when the troubles of men were washed away by the soft, nursing hands of nature and love was abundant.