Preparing to Wed—Grapegrower Style

Posted by Tom Wark on May 11, 2011

I've always watched grapegrowers and their partners in crime, winemakers, with fascination when the weather threatens their well laid plans. Their regular glances into the sky, their consultation of the Farmers Almanac, their regular check-ins in with weather.com are just a few of the worried and concerned acts they perform when Mother Nature threatens their needs.

Not being a farmer I've never fully appreciated their special brand of worry.

Yesterday I checked weather.com at least 25 times, just to see if there was any update to the Napa weather this coming Saturday when I will marry Kathy—outside. Twenty-five times…at least.

Now, this hardly gets me into the Junior Farmer Program, but it does give me a little insight into the world of those who worry feverishly about things they can not control. And I've learned some things: Did you know, for example, if you worry and wring your hands just enough, there is a possibility of convincing yourself, despite the contrary being true, that your act of worrying can actually change the physical world?

It's true!!

The weather on Saturday looks like it will be "mild", another way of saying "bring a sweater"! There is also now, according to Weather.com, a 10% chance of rain in Napa Valley on Saturday. This wouldn't matter if I was planning to change my life inside, instead of outside.

But the news isn't all bad. At one point, Weather.com insisted that Saturday saw a 30% chance of rain. Clearly they've backed off their more dire predictions in the wake of my concern, worry and hand wringing. (Thank you, Weather.com, for listening!)

Everyone attending the ceremony knows that their is a threat of untidy weather. And just about everyone has issued emails or voice calls or told us in person, "It will be beautiful, no matter what. And remember rain on your wedding day is good luck."

As long as I'm wringing my hands and determined to worry away the rain, I'm equally willing to believe that rain falling on the day of one's wedding can actually positively effect the future lives of a couple. Why not?

The upshot of all this concern about weather is that I now possess a new talent and I'm willing to use it. Come October, when the grapegrowers are looking skyward, consulting their predictive tools, checking in hopefully with Weather.com and generally worrying, all in an attempt to ward off rot-inducing rain, I will use my own now well-honed worrying skills to help them ward off the rain clouds. Sort of like "group prayer". Only this is more of a "group worry."

In the end, all this worry over weather is about assuring a beautiful event for Kathy and I and for our guests. But, what's true is that come Saturday I'd promise myself to Kathy if it meant doing so standing on a wine barrell floating down Highway 29 in the midst of "a storm of the century".