Blush

by Jamie Brenner

She said when women gather, there is power . . .

In the way that music and books and movies you see later in life can never compare to the ones you experienced as a child, so it was with a place.

Leah remembered her mother’s book club, she remembered a time when the vineyard was thriving, her mother was in her prime, and anything seemed possible. It wasn’t just the rosy hue of her memory: the Vivian of her childhood would not give up on the winery. Leah was certain of that. Maybe the book would help her mother remember, too.

there was a catharsis in discussing love and life—and,

Every woman’s husband is hopelessly irredeemable in one way or another. The same could be said of a marriage.

Like writing fiction, there was no absolute formula for great wine, and like writing a book, a wine was never truly “finished.”

But when someone comes into your life and changes your understanding of yourself, that person becomes a part of you.

“That the vines that have to struggle for resources ultimately produce the best grapes.”

A wise friend once told me, when women gather, there is power.” She turned to look at Delphine, then back to the wider crowd. “And I’ve never felt that more strongly than I do standing here with all of you.”

Just because our children are grown, we are not done. Just because we are older, we are not done. I look at what you and your daughter and granddaughter are doing, and I think: the best is ahead.”