In November, we made our first trip to Mendoza, Argentina.
This would be the perfect time to buy a piece of land and look for a winemaker.
Brady had already made contract with Stephen Derencourt to be our resident
enologist and advisor. Perhaps the most evasive, yet successful advisor in the
wine consulting business; it was a bold approach, and costly to retain his
services, but Brady being the smart businessman that he is felt he was worth
his weight in gold; which is exactly what we intended to make. In addition to
the wine business, Brady wanted to do some consulting of his own and Stephen
promised to show him some of his
trade secrets…from vine to glass. Brady had decided that a full twenty-one
percent of the profits from the wineries would go back into the business as
investments and then be funneled to philanthropic efforts that were yet to be
determined. He placed me in charge of figuring out the most appropriate place
for that.
I came
up with what I thought was a novel idea. Similar to the approach used in social
networks and network marketing, I decided to develop a sort of “ring of fire”
around prayer. Women would unite in groups of seven; (as if there is any other
number), and pray over the concerns of each other’s family and children. No
family matter would be too big or too small. We were going to allow the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit to drive the bus. It started off small in December,
and it would eventually grow nationally and then internationally. First Canada,
then Russia, China, and even Malaysia. I began to have each mother pay dues at
each meeting totaling $15 each month. This would allow me to hire a staff and a
finance director and form a foundation. Brady had too many irons in the fire at
the time anyway, so he reluctantly waivered on the idea of doing the finances
for the foundation. In fact, for accounting purposes, and to be removed from
IRS scrutiny, we decided to let Michael Crawford at the firm of Dixon Hughes
Goodman, LLP handle all of our business. Brady initially had trouble
relinquishing this responsibility, but hiring an expert to handle multiple
lines of business and philanthropic areas finally made sense to him. He focused
on his work, I focused on mine; we focused on the children, and this move
allowed us the flexibility to again spend some quality time together. Lord
knows, it had been a while since the word vacation was thrown around, or for
that matter even mentioned at our house.
We had
to find some time to get away soon. This
called for a desperate and bold move on my part…so I wrote to Dad:
Dad,
It has been nearly
four years since Brady and I have been on vacation. Do not worry, as the
children and Brady and I are well. We just need some time to relax.
Brady finally gave the
reigns to an accountant at a local firm. It has taken some time, but he has
followed your advice and hired Mike Crawford at the firm of Dixon Hughes
Goodman.
It is with the utmost
respect that I am asking you to come to the beautiful city of Asheville, and
allow Brady and me to slip away for a weekend. I promise there will be food in
the house for Mom to cook and plenty of ice cream for you before bed. Please
come soon, before I blow a head gasket! The End!
Stephanie
This
time, I would pick our vacation spot. I wanted to go to the beach, but at the
same time wanted to be close to the kids. Daufuskie Island would have to do. I
went all out and rented a glorious mansion on the island for a ridiculous $4000
for the week. Money was not an object for Brady and I at this point in our
life, and I needed to feel pampered. The place was called Sea Oak Manor I, and
it would be our humble (yeah right!) abode for the next week.
Brady
looked with amazement and a bit of disdain at me when we arrived, but I looked
back as if to say, “I need this!”, so he let it go at that. There were enough
bedrooms for a basketball team to move in for the weekend, but it mattered not.
I had an evil plan to make use of every one of them. When we arrived, I called
Dad to check on Liam and Isabella. They were fine, and I mentioned that I would
phone often, but did not set any expectations. I needed a break!
The
house slept thirty-two and had eight bedrooms, a pool, a card and game room, a
wedding gazebo, a reunion room, and of course was an oceanfront manor. Puff
Daddy would have been impressed with my selection. The first thing that I wanted to do when I
arrived was to take and dip my toes in the sand. Brady and I took a walk that
evening, as he had left work after lunch that day, and we arrived about 6:00
PM. Soon we would have to find a place for a suitable meal, but I needed to
feel the waves calmly caress my feet.
At the
South Beach Marina, a Marriott property, we browsed some local shops and
finally found a restaurant for the evening meal. Marshside Martha’s CafĂ© looked
like a rickety old shack on the outside, but on the inside was appealing.
Nothing fancy, as the outside was representative of the inside, but the food
was amazing. Brady and I opted for a bowl of Shrimp Gumbo for starters. He had
a local brew and I sweet tea. There is just something about Southern Sweet Tea
that just hits all my buttons. Since I was away from the children and wanted to
“cut loos”, I knew that Brady would apply me with some wine, Mimosas or Bloody
Mary’s in the morning, but at this point I wanted the local brew of the
non-alcoholic type. For dinner I had a Bone-in Pork Chop and Brady a Rib-eye. He
loves steak, and is especially fond of grilling them at home on a charcoal
grill. He has been working on this master craft for some time, and for some
reason must have a beer in hand while grilling. Dinner was amazing, and we
jetted back to the house for some rest and relaxation.
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