AARP Online Community Memory Contest 2021 Week 1 of 3

[AARPTeri]

Champagne was invented in August, 1693 by Dom Perignon. 

I’ll drink to that!   

Share a memory you have that bubbles up and involves champagne for a chance to win!  

Rules:  https://community.aarp.org/t5/Brain-Health/AARP-Online-Community-Memory-Contest-2021-Week-1-Official... 

Week 1:  August 16 - August 22, 2021

[CherylJ866658]

I ran the department of communications at the town college.  I was 18 years old and invited the girls (most of them were 19-21 years old) working under me at the college to my trailer for champagne.  We were celebrating the end of the school year at the college.  We had a great time and that was the day they found out that their boss was the youngest among them.

[postman29]

My wife and I bought a bottle of Dom to bring over to my cousin's house to celebrate the new home we helped them move into right before Covid hit. As we are all retired we had waited until we had our vaccines to finally get together and crack that bottle open. Three weeks ago we brought it over and we all decided to wait to open it until the next time we were going over, which was in a month. Well, a couple of nights ago my cousin called, in an extremely "happy" mood, to tell me that he and his wife decided to pop the cork and drink that whole bottle by themselves! He was worried that we would be mad at them but to be honest it was a housewarming gift anyway, and not being naive, we had also bought an extra bottle for ourselves! Besides, the laughs we had at the slurring of his words on that phone call were priceless! 

[BeulahO522617]

I am a hillbilly from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. I was attending the  Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority100th Anniversary in Washington, DC. I had the opportunity to have Sunday Brunch and mimosa at B Smith's Restaurant at Grand Central Station. Boy, was I a fish out of water! Looking for a repeat trip.

[coolmaine]

Celebrating my 21st birthday at my grandmother's house in Las Vegas with my parents, my 2 brothers, uncle and my best friend Evelyn. Everyone is gone now except me. It's a happy memory, but a sad one too. My first glass of bubbles.

Vegas 

[ELew0011]

My boyfriend and I celebrated his first hole in one in golf with a bottle of champagne. Also, it was his first time he golfed.

[CarolynS259474]

When our eldest was married, I was given the honor of presenting the he wedding toast. "So, let's raise a glass to the Bonnie lass with sunlight in her hair. May they live in love, be blessed from above, and always have love to share." They've been married 21 years.

[AnnetteG572633]

Celebrating our anniversary on an Alaskan cruise 

[TomD857140]

Celebrating my 40th birthday on the beach with my wife and a bottle of champagne!

[RacquelE712599]

When I gave Birth to my son it was a Champagne 🍾 memory 

[lg7566]

When we got married we received a special bottle of champagne  to take on our Caribbean island-bound honeymoon. But in our wedding fog it didn't get packed. Our married life included many moves around the country for my husband's career and each time we would rediscover the bottle we would renew our "vow" to pop it open to celebrate our next wedding anniversary. Fast forward 42 years later and it was rediscovered again. My niece was preparing to leave for a new post-college job in Paris and as it was a well known and extremely popular French brand we decided to "regift" it to her with our heartfelt bon voyage wish. Later my brother admitted she put it up on eBay and sold it for $750!

[donna538]

I have two strange memories about champagne. One is from the mid 1970's at our local bar. On a friends birthday they gave him a bottle of champagne and when he opened it the cork hit the ceiling and came down and hit me in the head. Many years later in the South Pacific on the Tahitian Princess during the champagne waterfall we were walking on deck (not close to the waterfall) and all of a sudden I get hit in the boob with a champagne cork. They run over to make sure I was alright. 

[rdginto]

We took an annual vacation to the Florida Keys and in 1998 decided to elope.  We stayed at a mom & pop hotel and when the owner (who knew us for 10 years by then) found out we got married she brought us a bottle of champagne.  We toasted our wedding with her and her hubby and (having never drank champagne before) I took a big swallow only to realize I truly did not like this stuff as it went up and out my nose!  Good laughter with great people who celebrated us finally deciding to tie the knot.

[acm05]

Going on my first cruise (Princess) with my mother and seeing them do the champagne waterfall and doing it on a rocking ship, was quite memorable.

[Bodhirose]

While attending our neighbor's wedding my underage brother(16 or 17)  decided to "sample" some of the Champagne that had been served.  By the end of the evening he had taken advantage of one too many abandoned glasses on the tables and ended up with a good buzz.  My parents should have known better than to let him out of their sight!

[WilliamK737936]

No bubbles, Scotch has no bubbles.

[lynnempow]

Oh my! My son's wedding reception was held outdoors & we had a portable stage brought in. Well into the afternoon we were popping open the bottles of Champagne. Several women friends, and relatives and I were dancing and passing around the bottle for sips! It was all in good fun, at that point there were no tipsy guests. That came later.

[donna538]

We met on a Friday the 13th in August 39 years ago. We not only celebrate every August 13th, but also every Friday the 13th. With Cava (sparkling since that is our "champagne" of choice).

[dmailey]

Had champagne cocktails on our way to the prom, we are now celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary and will enjoy champagne cocktails to celebrate

[TrishA854338]

Not my first champagne moment, but my most memorable.   My brother and I bought a bottle of Dom Perignon for our Mother’s 65th birthday. It was a huge surprise as she’d been wanting to taste Dom.  It was well worth the cost, as it made her so very happy and we all got to partake as well. 🥂

[2Papa]

Tried and tried to get a date with a college classmate that was ultra attractive to me.  She finally agreed when she found out I had an outdoor hot tub that overlooked a lake.  I had pre placed a bottle of champagne and two Waterford flutes on the edge of the tub.  She was impressed and took the bait and things turned out like what I had hoped for!

[nctarheel]

It was our honeymoon. We were in New York City eating dinner in the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center. My memory of the restaurant's interior configuration was three tiers, each with tables, and we were seated in the middle tier, in everyone's view. I ordered a seafood appetizer. It had shrimp, oysters, and what I thought was shredded crab meat. I took a HUGE bite of the shredded crab meat. It wasn't crab meat; it was shredded fresh HORSERADISH. Even a drink of champagne didn't cool the unbearable burn. Forty seven years later and I am still embarrassed by the faux pas.

[Lgibson47]

I remember graduation at UCBerkeley. Neighbors downstairs had rich parents and I tasted both my first champagne and caviar at their family housing party. 74 years old now and unfortunately never tried either again. Too bad! It was nice and felt so elegant.

[Kateaz]

I was about 14 and attending my cousin's wedding in Boston in February. I was seated between my parents and they allowed me to have champagne. Unfortunately no one seemed to be paying attention to how much I had and soon I realized I couldn't feel my lips. I quietly mentioned this distressing fact to my mother who leaned across to my father and said "Your daughter is drunk - take her outside to sober her up." My dad walked me around the very cold parking lot for a while until he felt I could manage on my own. It was a long time before I ever tried champagne again.

[JoeH745220]

I served in the Air Force Medical Service Corps for 22 and a half years.  My family accompanied me to Lajes Air Base, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal during the millennium.  In late 1999, we made a trip as a family to Southern Ireland, and specifically stopped at Waterford Crystal factory.  In honor of the coming millennium, Waterford created five champagne flutes, each with engraved individual unique symbols representing, LOVE, PEACE, PROSPERITY, HEALTH, and HAPPINESS, and one flute had all five symbols!  We purchased the entire set of six engraved flutes and celebrated the millennium in grand style as a family with champagne toasts to ring in the year 2000!

[d953405f]

Our 40th anniversary... (we have been married 42 yrs now)... Never thought we would get that far- 7 Grandkids with our 2 great kids... amazing and worth everything for sure ❤️

[earog]

I have a fond memory of the time when I lived in Denver, back in the 1960’s, and attended an eloquent event on the top of a high rise building where champagne bubbled up and flowed from a fountain. 

[madlila]

My dad bought champagne on special occasions like New Year's and we were allowed a small glass. His view, having spent time in Europe, was that better we have a small amount with everyone. It got rid of the mystique of  drinking and neither my sister or I were very much into it. I do on occasion have some wine at special events. it has kept its specialness. And we did the same with our son. My mother in law was French and wine for her was  an everyday thing.