A Perfectly Imperfect Pairing

Not many people think a dream date story can happen when so many things went wrong. But in fact, that is precisely what happened on the first date Oliver and I had.

The day started out, me waiting in my car in the parking lot of the winery we were going to do a tasting at. I was a few minutes early when my phone rang. It was Oliver, telling me he was going to be late because of car trouble. He told me one of his friends would drive him to the winery, and then perhaps I could drive him home after our date. I agreed and then waited for him to arrive.

As I waited, I looked out over the verdant, rolling hills of the vineyard. The grapevines were full of lush purple globes, full of juice that would eventually be squeezed to make exceptional wines. I started thinking back to when I first met Oliver. There was a rough start to that day, too. We both lived in Southern California and were both evacuated during a wildfire. We both ended up in the same evacuation shelter. We met and then talked the entire time, almost enabling us to forget all our worries.

After we were safely back home, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Thus, we continued our unlikely courtship via phone, video calls, text, and email. When my birthday rolled around, Oliver sent me a bottle of his favorite Merlot from the Bordeaux, France region. When his birthday was next, I sent him a bottle of my favorite Merlot from Tuscany, Italy. The night of his birthday, we chatted via computer, sipping wine and admiring the legs as they fell on the inside of the glass. He had prepared himself his favorite pairing with Merlot, filet mignon, and garlicky mushrooms. Being a vegetarian, I made myself roasted tomatoes and veggies over fusilli. That night, we discussed that we could meet in person next time since we had both been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As I nervously waited for our first actual in-person date, I hoped that today would work out because I really liked Oliver and his taste in wines!

The memories of our meeting faded as his friend pulled up into the driveway, parking next to my car. Much to my surprise, his friend was one of my ex-boyfriends. After a minute of awkward silence, we laughed off the crazy coincidence. Oliver and I then walked inside the winery as his friend/my ex departed.

Much to our surprise, the winery was out of Merlot, having sold their last bottle only minutes before we walked in. Laughing again, we sat at a table to taste other wines. The winery started us with a Chardonnay, then a Sangiovese. Next was a Syrah, and then a Cabernet Sauvignon. Between each tasting, we had a little bit of crusty Italian bread to cleanse our pallets. Finally, they served us a small glass of Tawny Port with a piece of milk chocolate.

Having enjoyed our wine, we decided to go to the beach and walk in the fading warmth of the day. Alas, when we got to the beach, we saw it was closed due to high tides. Laughing and looking at each other with a “what can you do” look, we headed to the park instead. Halfway through our walk, it started raining! We sought shelter in a nearby gazebo and waited for the random shower to pass.

As we sat in the gazebo and talked, I realized what made Oliver and me such a good paring. We both had an ability to look at the bright side of things. We were both able to laugh in the face of adversity and make lemonade out of lemons. We both seemed to understand that even though the clouds can sometimes hide the sun, the sun is always there.

As I drove Oliver home, a bright beam of light shone through the clouds that were breaking up in the sky as the sun set. When I pulled up to his apartment building, we planned to have another date the following weekend. Then we ended our perfectly imperfect date with a perfect kiss.