Memories for Auction

I learned recently that the restaurant where Chad proposed to me has closed. Another victim of the horrible Michigan economy. Turns out not so many couples are able to spend $100 on a fancy dinner anymore. And when I think about it, we have only been back there once for an anniversary dinner since the night we were engaged (and I was there for a few business lunches.) But I was thinking maybe we could have gone back for our upcoming fifth wedding anniversary.

They are auctioning the contents of the restaurant online. So I went to the site and looked this morning. It was so sad. I sent the link to Chad and he wrote back one word... "Depressing."

The velvet curtains that hung around the table where I sat that night, hardly able to enjoy my dinner because I was distracted by this gorgeous diamond on my finger... The candlebras that hung from the ceiling above us... the antique davenport in the private parlor upstairs where Chad slowly slid off the edge and onto one knee before asking me to spend the rest of my life with him... so many memories now up for auction.

I will never forget that night as the waitress led us up a back staircase into a private parlor. I turned around to Chad as if to say, "Where are we going? Doesn't she know the dining room is back there." I emerged to a room with a bouquet of flowers, bottle of champagne and a card with my name on it. Soon after that, I was in tears and telling the man of my dreams that I would marry him.

It's sad to see the restaurant go. As I looked over those pictures in the online auction, the items came to life in my memories. Only memories can breathe life and love into something that otherwise is just an object with a pricetag.