Open That Bottle…!

What are you waiting for?

Aunt Selvi was deep into the battlefield of decluttering, pulling out forgotten relics from the back of the cupboard. She held up a blouse with shoulder pads so imposing they could double as armor. “Did I really think I’d need this for power dressing?” she muttered before tossing it into the discard pile. Meanwhile, Siri was valiantly fielding an endless barrage of phone calls. It was her birthday, and well-wishers were eager to know about her grand plans for the year ahead.

“I’m finally breaking up with my husband,” Siri announced dramatically for the eighth time that morning.

The responses were eerily similar. “Oh, Siri, we’ve heard this before. You’ve been talking about moving out for two years, yet you’re still there.”

Aunt Selvi raised an eyebrow. “Siri, look at this bottle of perfume. I saved it for a special occasion, and now all the perfume has dried up. What does that tell you?”

Siri sighed. “That you should’ve used it when you had the chance?”

“Exactly. And here you are, saving up your life for the perfect moment that never comes.”

Siri had nothing to say to that. It was true. There were numerous opportunities she had let slip away. At first, it was for the sake of family demands. Then, it was the weight of habit, and now? She felt frozen in place, like a bottle of wine kept too long in a cellar, aging but never savored.

Aunt Selvi, in a rare act of reckless abandon, reached for another bottle—one that had been sitting in the cupboard for decades. A dusty bottle of wine she had been saving for the ‘right moment.’

“What are you doing?” Siri asked, watching in horror as her aunt uncorked the bottle with a victorious pop.

“Opening that bottle! The last Saturday of February is ‘Open That Bottle Day.’ You know, it was created by some wine writers—Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher—to remind people that they don’t need a reason to celebrate. The occasion is the wine itself.”

Siri watched as her aunt poured two glasses, handing one to her. “We don’t just do this with wine, you know,” Aunt Selvi continued. “We do this with everything. We save books to read ‘later’ so we can savor them. We keep fancy crockery for guests, and when we finally bring them out, they need to be sterilized first. We buy expensive shoes but wear them so rarely that they end up giving us shoe bites. And let’s not forget desserts we save for a special day—only to find them growing their own ecosystem in the fridge.”

Siri laughed despite herself, taking a sip. The wine had aged well, much like Aunt Selvi’s wisdom.

“But why do we do this?” Siri mused.

“Ah, the great human flaw!” Aunt Selvi gestured dramatically. “Sometimes, we’re just reluctant to change. The familiar is safe. Sometimes, we think we don’t deserve nice things unless we’ve ‘earned’ them. And other times, we’re just waiting for the perfect moment that never comes.”

Siri thought about all the times she had put off making a decision, thinking she needed to hit some invisible milestone before she could act. Wasn’t that exactly what she had been doing with her marriage? With her career? With her own happiness?

“So what you’re saying is… I should stop waiting?”

“Yes, darling. Open that bottle. Use the fancy plates. Wear the good shoes. Drink the wine. And for heaven’s sake, if you want out of that marriage, stop announcing it and just do it.”

Siri took a deep breath. Maybe Aunt Selvi had a point. Maybe life wasn’t about waiting for the perfect moment but about making the moment perfect by simply living it.

As the two of them clinked glasses, Siri realized something. This was it. The perfect moment. And it had been there all along, just waiting for her to open the bottle.