A few weeks ago one of my favorite places closed in my town. I say favorite with the understanding that it wasn't a 'local' place, it was a chain, but it felt local half the time. Old Chicago's.
It's hard to explain, but let me try. It wasn't the food, which was either ok or somewhat tasty on average. It was the people and the memories.
Many years ago I worked a church. As such I met lots of the parishioners. One of these women had a daughter around my age. My mother and her mother started talking after Mass one day. They both seemed to believe their daughters needed friends. So upon walking in to grab my son and say good bye I was told I had to meet this girl AND get her number. MOST BIZARRE THING EVER. We both just stood looking at each other with our families around wishing we could escape. To pacify everyone, we exchanged numbers and then booked it out of there in our own ways.
For weeks we would call the other randomly like 5 min before we were going out inviting the other to join us and our friends. Always knowing that we were doing what our moms wanted (so we could be honest when asked) and that we wouldn't have to actually hang out with this stranger.
The people I worked a part time job with always wanted to go to Old Chicago's after work. So one day I called her and invited her to join. Oddly enough, I had given her enough time and she was going to come. The rest is history. She joined me and my other friends there each time.
The guy(s) that I was interested went there all the time too. We played darts. Drank. Hung out. All. The. Time. I think I may have spent way too much money there that one summer. But oh it was great. After failed blind dates it was where I would meet my friends. For games or just because we were bored. The servers there were great and it was like a family. We all knew each other. We closed the place down.
I invited one of my other friends to join us, and he and my friend would flirt. It took a few times, but they ended up going out. My friend and I would meet up at Old Chicago's to catch up on how the relationship was going. Discuss gifts being bought. Fun times. My friend ended up marrying him. They now have a little girl.
When my sister came to town to get married, they didn't want to spend a lot on a reception dinner, but they wanted to go out. I suggested Old Chicago's and that was where we all went.
I had my first 'date' with someone who turned out to be one of my craziest, but good friends.
It's where I had my last dinner with one of my (at the time) best friends.
Now, over time, the people that worked there changed. They would change how they did mini-tour parties. I didn't spend as much time there. It was however, where we always defaulted to. I was comfortable there. It was the only place I didn't feel weird going to the bar alone to.
Its all done now though. The place closed. I went with my friend the last day they were open for lunch. We talked with the manager who had known us for years. We cried over the fact that the normal fare we got was already gone. She got the last cookie to take home and share with her husband. We hadn't realized how big of part that place had been in our lives. The things that would never have come about had they not existed.
Its strange how that can happen isn't it.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
