The theme of this month's tour is "respect the white."    In honor of both the word "Respect" and for white wine,  I thought I would share this story with you.

If you've read my posts before or are my facebook friend, then you know I am not very good at keeping my personal life completely separated from business.  One thing I have shared with everyone is that I have a son who was in Afghanistan.  For six months I would ask people to pray for my son and all our troops, give updates on how he was doing, and finally,  share with people my profound relief when he finally came home.

To celebrate my family had a BBQ to welcome home my son, Brad, and his friend Tom.   As always there was plenty of food and wine.  I had received two bottles of wine from Shane Fischer, partial owner of Sweet Valley Wines from Walla Walla, Washington.  Coincidently, Micheal Meade, of Wineblocks, also brought a wine from Washington.    So it was sort of Washington Wine themed BBQ.

Although Brad is not yet 21 we did let him and Tom (who is 21) have some wine.  Brad, in typical fashion, would take a sip, smile, say something like, "this is delicous,  while I was looking at him and then once I turned my back he would chug the whole glass down, pour himself some more, and smile innocently when I turned back around.  How do I know this you ask?  Well, like I told my daughter when she was 7 years old, I have eyes in the back of my head (one time I caught my daughter staring at the back of my head.  I asked her what she was looking for and she said, "the eyes you have back there.").   It turns out Brad was just trying to get some liquid courage because a girl he had liked before he deployed was coming to see him. But Tom actually seemed to enjoy the wine. Don't get me wrong.  Tom wanted to get drunk...but he seemed to take the time to actually taste the wine.  (this mom does not condone her sons ..I consider Tom a son...getting intoxicated).

As always seems to happen at a Tyner BBQ...we drank all the wine meant to go with dinner before dinner was finished.  Hey, it was hard to resist the yummy Syrah and Righteous Red from Sweet Valley.  By the time the steak was finished we were opening white wine.   This is where Tom had an epiphany.  He ran up to me, glass full of white wine in hand, and said, "I LOVE THIS WINE!  I LOVE WHITE WINE!!"

So folks, if white wine can bring joy to our boys in uniform, it certainly can bring joy to you!

PS: I want to thank everyone for all their support during Brad's deployment.  Every time I posted something on facebook I got a multitude of "likes" and prayers, thoughts, and thank yous.  Knowing that so many people appreciated my son really did make a difference.  I hope all of you will continue to pray for our men and women in uniform.  May they all come home safe.

This picture above was  taken at Rudd.  They make some lovely white wines worthy of respect; Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

Brad (left), his two brothers, and Tom (right).