Shelby De Lappe
Story summary
My client is Chateau Ste. Michelle and they represent the wine industry. The
audience my client is going for is women from ages 21-28 who have a soft spot in their
heart. They would be a type of women who is driven and classy. The women in the target
audience would be women who make a comfortable amount of money, in upper middle
class.
My audience should engage in the story I am writing because it is a feel good story.
It has sad parts but in the end it has a happy ending.
I want my audience to feel a sense of happiness when they read my story. It is
supposed to be a heartwarming story and I want the audience to feel that way. The point of
view is from a grandchild of my main character. This just adds another positive spin on the
story because you can tell how much her granddaughter loves her grandmother. It makes it
easier to sympathize with her rather than just having a narrator. The information they will
take away from the story is the wine is a reminder to two people who love each other that
their love will never fade. It want my story to give the audience positive thoughts about my
client’s product.
This story takes place mostly in a car. It also takes place at a aunt’s house and
grandmother’s house for a short period of time. This is significant to my reader because
where the story takes place is not as nearly as important as what kind of message the story
contains. So even though they are not very remarkable places, the story itself is still
meaningful.
The story will be structured in a manner that gives my readers a little insight
to who my main character is as a person. I want my audience to know that my main
character is a good person, reiterating another part of what makes it a happy story.
Character Outline
My character wants to make her family happy and to love her husband. The goal for
my main character is to explain to her granddaughters how she met her husband and how
far she’s come with him.
The main problem my character faces is that she loved a married man that had
children who were older. The other problem my character faced is that her husband is
getting older and she is starting to worry about him.
The obstacles my main character faces is that she initially is not even supposed to be
seeing grandpa bob. She doesn’t mention a plan for dealing with her husband but she does
mention being worried about him.
My main characters job is at stake, and in a way the rest of life. Her job was at stake
because she could have been fired for seeing her boss, someone that she really wasn’t
supposed to be seeing. In an way the rest of her life was at stake because she was marrying
into a family with lots of kids who are older who were leery of her. If that didn’t end well
her life could have been a living hell.
Story Outline
A Marriage United
I don’t remember when I learned my grandmother wasn’t actually related to me. It
seems like I always knew she was only my grandmother by marriage but ever since I can
remember I have loved her with my whole heart. My father is one of six kids, all of his
siblings, including him, are married and there are16 grandchildren and 5 greatgrandchildren. This being said I have a rather large family on my father’s side. Grandma
Suze has always loved each and every one of us like we were her own for as far as I can
remember. She and my grandfather have been married for just over 54 years and she has
never waivered from the madness of the George family.
A few years ago I was on my way to my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary
celebration. I was in the car with a close cousin of mine and both of my grandparents. We
had just started our 30-minute drive and were chatting along when I asked my grandma
and grandpa how they had met. My grandma gave a small smile and began to weave me the
tale of how they got to be where they are today.
“It all started when I got my first job after graduating from college,” my
grandmother began.
She talked about how that she had just graduated from an all women’s college on the
east coast and had just moved back home. She had just gotten her first job at Boeing as a
secretary in the Human Relations department. At the time my Grandpa Bob was working in
the same department but higher up in a management. They immediately caught each
other’s eye and began seeing each other shortly after. My grandma explained that because
my grandfather was higher up in the department and she was just a secretary it was highly
frowned upon for them to be dating, she explained further that they just knew they were
meant to be and six months later they were married. My grandpa was a few years older
than her and had recently gone through a divorce, I mentioned earlier my dad was one of
six and at the time his youngest brother was 12 and his oldest sister was 21. She told my
cousin and I how intimidated she was to join a family where her step children were all
older and weren’t accustomed to having another woman in the house. My grandmother
then laughed and continued on by saying how she knew my dad and his brothers and sister
were leery of her but she killed them with kindness.
Laughing to herself she said, “Some days I wasn’t sure how I was going to
survive, but I seemed to have made it!”
Just as she was finishing her story we pulled into my aunts house where the
celebration was taking place. She put it into park and we all got out, as we were doing so
my grandpa stepped out and looked at my grandma and said,
“What are we doing here again dear?”
“Darling, it’s our 50th wedding anniversary. Come on now keep up,” she said back.
He chuckled and shook his head as if he could hardly believe that slipped his mind.
Now my grandfather is in excellent health for his age but he doesn’t drive because he has
horrid eyesight. However, every now and then he’ll say or ask something like that that
makes us believe his memory is beginning to show signs of Alzheimer’s. Nothing serious
yet but recently my grandma has had to help grandpa with things he normally doesn’t need
help with.
After we arrived the rest of the family showed up as well and the party was in full
swing. Everyone was excited to see each other; we feasted, caught up and shared quite a
few laughs. After a while my grandpa opened a bottle of wine and poured all the legally
aged adults a glass of wine. He stood up and made a toast to grandma and their marriage.
He cherished her, and by the end of the speech we all had a tear or two in our eyes.
After a while the party died down and we all made our way home. I was staying with
my grandparents that night and was chatting with my grandmother before I went to bed.
As we were talking about how much fun we had that day she mentioned the bottle of wine.
Curious, I questioned her further and she went on to tell me why that bottle of wine was so
special. It turns out it was from the winery where their marriage took place. She explained
that when she way planning their wedding the only thing grandpa wanted a say in was
where it would take place.
“He told me that Chateau Ste. Michelle was so beautiful,” she said. “He told me its
beauty reminded him of me and he refused to have the wedding anywhere else.”
The wine my grandfather poured at their anniversary celebration was the same
cabernet sauvignon they had at their wedding 50 years ago. It was bottled the same year
they were married. Grandma continued on and admitted that she was starting to worry
about grandpa more but then he turn around and do things like serving the wine that
meant so much to them. Grandma says she even though some days are hard she knows he
still remembers his love for her.