It would have been enough that the first snow day of the year was called before 5:00pm the night before, allowing me to stay up past my bedtime with an extra glass of wine watching Deadwood. It would have been enough that, by Wednesday, I felt so good about my workouts this week that I didn’t feel the need to brave the icy streets and cold to get to the gym on Thursday morning. And it would have been enough that my kids were happy when they woke up, my house warm, my wife beautiful, and my life in as good of order as it has been for quite a while. All of that, any of that, would have by itself been more than I deserve. Then the phone rang.

I never answer calls from numbers I don’t know, but I’ve replaced my surly voicemail greeting with something a bit friendlier, so on occasion people leave me messages. This was one such occasion, and when I heard the message, I covered the receiver (out of habit — I was listening to a voicemail) and looked at Sonja, still in bed. “They found my Jeep!”

Unbelievable! Faithful readers and close friends surely know that a month or so ago, my immaculate 1991 Jeep Wrangler with 62K original miles was stolen from in front of my house. I was annoyed, but determined to have a good attitude about it. I was just wrapping up the paperwork after the holiday break yesterday. The lady from the insurance company in Minneapolis, with whom I’d spoken many times, sounded almost as excited as I was. She told me who to call, and I hung up and dialed the police impound lot. There, Mike informed me that it had been abandoned not terribly far from my home. He said it had scratches and door dings, and that something is wrong with the top. He also told me I couldn’t come get it until the police looked through it for guns, drugs, and the like, and that there was no way they would be doing that on a day like today. No problem, I told him. He told me one more thing: The fee to get it out of impound is $95. For a split second, indignation came upon me — I have to pay to get my stolen vehicle back? Then I reframed the problem in my head: If the person who stole it had said to me “Hey, if you give me $95, I’ll give you your Jeep back,” would I have taken it? Yes. (And then I might have stuffed the guy’s broken body into an empty wine barrel in my cellar.) The point is, getting my stolen car back for under a hundred dollars isn’t something I have the audacity to complain about.

Still in my pajamas, I headed downstairs. The bills, the paperwork, all the other junk I had to do today could wait. It was a snow day! It was Jeep day! It was time to celebrate. I made waffles for my family, and I popped the cork on some of my favorite bubbles: Schramsberg Brut Rose’.

The 2014 vintage of Schramsberg’s Brut Rose’ is one I have reviewed here before, but as I used it to celebrate today, and because I love it, I’ll briefly revisit it. Light and playful bubbles, a subtle nose of dry red fruits, a terrific dark rose’ color with a burnt orange tint to it, the wine is complex and sophisticated, yet easy to appreciate. Flavors of rose petal, dry strawberry, desert rose hips, and an all but imperceivable touch of suede leather make it special. One of my all time favorite bottles of bubbly, it pairs perfectly with waffles and black coffee, or free time and good news.

Today was a pretty great day. In fact, it was many great days all wrapped into one. I’m feeling truly blessed, and I hope you are as well. The next time you visit me, we’ll go for a ride in the Jeep — and open a bottle of Schramsberg Brut Rose’. Thanks for reading.

Cheers to the great days,