Vail Daily letter: Gluwein memories

I like the Gluwein article. The gray on gray in the bland severity of the German winter is oppressive, it seems to never end — so they have a lot of street festivals. But it is not always just about the food or drink.

They serve Gluwein very cheap in a street festival environment — and they play a little game, too. You must put down your glass of it before you finish it and not pay attention to it. If someone else drinks it and you don’t notice, you cant get mad — it’s like a bad omen or bad luck. But if they catch you doing it, you have to get them another glass and drink it with them. It is really great, there are some really smooth wine thieves there — and it’s so much fun! The sugar and the wine make it harder and harder not to laugh your head off when they get mad about someone nabbing their wine. It all makes for heaps of fun.

They do other things like that, too — like when they are getting married, the bride-to-be makes her groom do all these stunts in public to show that he truly loves her. I was biting my lip in tears when one of the hardest German men I’ve ever seen was giving out penis-shaped cookies at the bar in a dress one night. And with the straightest, most sincere and genuine face — you could tell he loves his bride so much. They were putting him through hell, too, and he never got mad. The bride was just glowing in her love for him in the crowd — you didn’t need to know the language to tell who she was.

I wish we had more of this on the mountain. As my love once told me, we were all put here to love each other, in every way. We were all put here to build each other up.

George Harrington