Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Image: ooligan.pdx.edu 

Yesterday, Emily and I went out to eat dinner somewhere we had never eaten before. It's a bar and grill close to our house, but for some reason we never went there before. Todd worked on the 4th of July so his work gave him a gift card as a thank you, and he gave it to me.

Most of the bar and grills around here are more grill than bar, but this place was more bar than grill, which brought back a ton of memories of my childhood. Yes, I spent a good share of time in bars as a child.

I was born in Bay City, Michigan and that's were most of our family was on both my mom and dad's sides of the family. We lived there until I was about six years old, an then we moved to Holland which was on the other side of the state.

My mom was very close to her family so we would make the three hour trek back to Bay City at least a couple times a year. My mom's sister worked in a bar during the day shift, so usually our first stop when we got there was the bar to see my aunt. I remember being not too much older than Emily is, sitting at the bar sipping Sprite with cherries in it.

As I got older, my mom's brother started dating a woman who owned a different bar. We spent several Christmases there. It had 'Inn' in the name and one year we got to tell some people that there was no room at the inn!

That 2nd bar was the first place I ever got drunk. I was over 21 and with my parents which proves what kind of a nerd I am. When in college, I didn't go to many bars. The Wayside a few times to dance, but I was never a big 'sit in a bar and drink' kind of person. I don't see the appeal.

But there are people who do that. There was also a couple of people at the bar when we'd visit my aunt even though it would be early afternoon. The place we went to yesterday also had a few people huddled around the bar, just talking and hanging out.

 I haven't been to a bar in years because I haven't had a drink of alcohol in years. But it was like Cheers and it is a throwback to my childhood to walk into a place like that.