Hello, Cabernet!
Wine is both pleasing to my palate and soothing to my spirit.
Being the wine-lover than I am, I have to say that in my view there is very little that can’t be improved upon simply by pairing it with a nice glass of wine. Reading a book, a small gathering of family & friends, a quiet evening on the sofa, wine chats with the SisterDears, an airplane flight and even blogging all go well with a nice glass of wine.
Planning a great meal? Pair it with a nice wine that will compliment your food. The right wine actually makes the food taste better, and vice-versa. My best advice to new wine drinkers: Give yourself permission to ignore the white meat, white wine/red meat, red wine rule. If you like it, that’s all that really matters. Personally, I drink reds almost exclusively.
Panic Disorder
I have suffered from Panic Disorder since my early teenage years. Of course, at the time I didn’t know what it was, but I found that if I stayed busy cleaning, it helped a lot. Fortunately, being the oldest of eight children, there was always something to clean!
I also realized that if I allowed myself to become over-tired I was more susceptible to having an Attack. That’s just one of the reasons I try to be in bed by 8:00 every night… That, and when I’m well-rested, I also tend to be in a better mood and therefore less apt to bite someone’s head off! 
When I first discovered my love of wine, I also discovered a wonderful Perk! Not only did it taste wonderful, but it relaxed me like nothing else ever had!
I have written before that I have a Love/Hate relationship with flying. I love that it can transport me so quickly to someone I wish to spend time with, but I hate that it also will trigger a Panic Attack.
It’s Wine-Thirty somewhere!
Not long after 9-11, I booked the only available flight into SisterDear2’s airport. It happened to be a very early morning flight, which meant I would not have my coping mechanism available. I finally decided to make an appointment with the doctor. I was hoping for a “magic pill” that I could take for the flight up and back. To make a long story short, he told me to disregard the time of the flight. Since wine works so well for me I was to imagine myself to be an International Traveler - and it was Cocktail hour somewhere! That’s how I got my tagline “It’s Wine-thirty somewhere!”
I’ll admit that I felt a little creepy ordering wine so early in the morning, but I’m so glad I did! In fact, I ordered several of those teeny tiny wine bottles! I had a wonderful flight, and while my fellow passengers may have thought me an alcoholic, they were blissfully unaware of the consequence of being in close proximity of a strapped-in woman in the midst of a full-blown Panic Attack! For three hours!!
Bye-Bye Paxil, Hello, Cabernet!
You know, I can see how that would work. I can’t drink due to my stupid bodies way of crashing shortly after a few sips of any alcohol. Its like taking nyquil–except that Nyquil doesn’t work me. However, in this case it certainly sounds like it makes a difference and wine is definitely better than all the meds they put you on for panic attacks.
When you do the math, wine always works!
I love wine. I am stuck on Pinot Grigio lately and think it goes well with anything, even anxiety.
Shiraz is my favourite. Do you think blogging counts as being a virtual international traveller? I’m so far behind on your posts, that I went off and made myself a cup of coffee before I sat down to read them. I did think a glass of wine would have been a more appropriate beverage, but then, the sun hasn’t gone over the yardarm yet! So I stuck to coffee. I’ve been through periods of panic attacks when I’m flying, but my father’s advice when he was seeing me off on a long haul flight that left at 5.30 am, was to just have a Gin and Tonic before getting on the plane. That (or wine) works most of the time, but when you’re on a flight that’s leaving from a dry country, you have to wait till after the plane takes off and the seat belt light is out, and by then my nerves might be completely shot!