This email includes images of mid-fall (October) from above, and later fall (early November) from ground level looking over the river, both of the meadow across from our house in Guilford, VT. Everyday, we are grateful for this place– its beauty, the people (including our neighbor, Gabe Maulucci, who took the above picture with a drone and shared it with us), and our proximity to non-human nature that reminds us that we are only one of many species who reside here. We give thanks daily for this life.
Our customer-friends are part of the richness of our lives here. We have had so many interesting conversations with you over the years– about food, travel, family, art and, if you talk with FGL much, you know that it always goes to sports. The wraith of COVID shifted conversations, initially to the hyper-vigilant behaviors we were practicing, but soon the theme that we heard consistently revolved around gratitude– for continued good health (and now vaccines); for the good friends with whom we’ve shared this new world, first mostly via Zoom, then tentatively–after vaccinations–welcoming others into our homes and going to theirs; for family and their support in this epoch (we know many grandparents who became caregivers to young children so their parents could work); to the community culture that valued keeping each other safe; and to this beautiful place that made it so much easier not to go anywhere. In these conversations, we experienced that gratitude is indeed, as Robert Emmons of Berkeley observed, a “relationship-strengthening” emotion. We acknowledge how much our welfare, from health to happiness, depends on others.
Frank and I are grateful to you for your support of Windham Wines. We know it is a choice, and we feel that connection which is why you are more than customers. You are our customer-friends. Thank you.
Santé, customer-friends.
