Last night, some agents in my office decided to start a new tradition. Someone suggested that every Thursday, we all meet at Tessaro, a little Italian restaurant and bar down the street from the office. So, I received my first invitation to “Wine Night.

Now, I may have misinterpreted the invitation. You know, real estate agents in general do a fair amount of bitching and moaning when they get together, so naturally I heard the a favorite colleague invite me to Whine Night.

But this little office bonding ritual turned into anything but a whine.

First, I learned a surprising fact about a colleague who grew up in the old Soviet Union. Part of her elementary school curriculum included assembling and learning to use a Kalashnikov, and by middle school she was winning championships in this subject. Even though she swears she’s lost here touch, I will be careful not to annoy her - ever!

Then we celebrated Patrice, our office administrator, who had a lot of extra work last month because the rest of us were at the beach. She’s really good at her job, and this was an occasion to let her know how much we all appreciated her.

And we celebrated our business. We had a great back-and-forth about business strategies in this market, which is new and different for all but the geezer agents like myself, who actually remember what a buyer’s market is like.

And we shared some really nice wine that the Sicilian waiter recommended. This is a tradition that I could grow to enjoy.