Certified Again!

After weeks of losing my mind over piles of books, grocery bags with stacks of flash cards and reading more than 2,000 pages of ‘review information’ from such books as The World Atlas Book of Wine, I’ve done it.
I’ve certifiably driven everyone in my group of family and friends crazy, made myself a bit loonier and am taking my first breath in weeks.  Wound up?  Probably.  I may have slept last nite for the first time in weeks, and it feels good.
I’m happy to report that I am a Certified Sommelier again, this time through the Court of Master Sommeliers.  Spending four days with some of this country’s most influential wine brains!, makes you think twice yet empowers you to want to move on with your wine education.  I know I use this saying alot, but…’If you think you know something about wine, think again!’  It’s a world that is much much larger than any one person should even be allowed to think about.  Yet for some, it is all they think about.   Just like a good wine, BALANCE is the key to everything in life.  If one can consume, hold and then extend that knowledge – one will certainly be left with the secret to life, balance. 
I heard a Roosevelt quote last nite (I won’t tell you where I heard it, on a very popular television show…) but it made sense as I continue on this journey with the Court of Master Sommeliers. 
        “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”
So, that is exactly what I plan to do as I move forward with my wine education.  Because at the end of the day, it’s not always about what you know, but how you present it.  And, half the battle of almost everything in life comes from ‘lack of presentation’.  With that, we go back to the basics. 
          Which leads me right back to the start of this conversation. 
          What does it mean to be a Sommelier?   Humility.