Searching For New Memories

Sadly for the past five years, this blog has been a once a year stop. I make an anniversary post on September 29th and then it falls by the wayside for another 365 days. However, something happened today that I realized I needed a long form of communication to convey this particular story.

I was neck deep in work and just got back to my desk after a meeting I didn't actually need to be in, and I noticed I had a text message on my phone. It was Tom telling me that the Georgetowne Inn was closing on July 7th. I had an audible gasp and exclaimed, "That sucks." out loud in my cube. Our PR professional in the cube next to mine asked what was wrong and I explained that the restaurant was closing. She asked what my connection to the restaurant was and I had to laugh. I then told her the story recounted for your (hopeful) enjoyment here...

It was September of 1993. I was a freshman in college and Terri was a junior in high school. We had been in a "long distance" relationship for approximately 3 weeks of our almost 1 year relationship. I knew I wanted to take her to dinner on our actual anniversary, but it was a Wednesday night which made it difficult to get out of class in Pittsburgh, drive home and have any kind of night before a normal curfew. This meant I had to get her parents involved to make sure she was allowed to go out and stay out a little later.

Once I had cleared that little hurdle, I only had to actually find a place to go, find a way to get there, find a way to pay for it, procure a gift for said anniversary, and keep Terri just enough in the dark so that she didn't think I'd see her until the weekend. No problem for a college freshman with no car, a part-time work study job, and very little idea of what ranked in the culinary world beyond the allure of Ponderosa or TGI Fridays.

I decided to call my Uncle David. He had lived in and around the city of Pittsburgh for the 10 years or so prior to that and culturally was both my guide and mentor. I asked for a restaurant that was upscale and nice, had a romantic atmosphere, and wouldn't cost me three years to pay off for one dinner. He thought about it for a few minutes while we chatted about other things and then decided that the Georgetowne Inn on Mt. Washington would fit all my criteria pretty nicely. He said that it had excellent food, the atmosphere was what I was looking for and for an extra touch of romance, I could park at the bottom and take the incline up Mt. Washington since the restaurant was located right next to the platform on top. He also told me that it was reasonably priced and shouldn't break my budget too much. I told him that was perfect and proceeded to finalize the restaurant arrangements.

I called the restaurant and made reservations for a conservative time of 8:00 since I had to finish afternoon classes, drive from Oakland to Eighty-Four and then back to Mt. Washington for dinner. The restaurant had an opening and I could check one more item off the list. This left finding a way to get there, actually paying for it, finding a gift, and keeping it a surprise.

Since it was to be a surprise and it was a school night, it wasn't going to be easy to have Terri actually dressed for a dinner out. So after giving it a bit of thought, I decided that an outfit would be a nice gift and would be easier to obtain due to the department store charge card I had. That solved the issue of paying for dinner since I didn't have to split the money between that and a gift and went toward keeping everything secret. Now I had to figure out how to get there.

Being a weeknight, I was able to borrow a car from Joed (my roommate's brother). He said he'd catch a ride to his off-campus apartment and I could park the car in the garage where I found it and give the keys back to Tom (his brother). Granted, I've known their family for many years, we all pretty much grew up together, but we were all taking the chance on a). breaking the rule of anyone but Joed, and occasionally Tom, driving the car in Pittsburgh, b). having it been seen and/or recognized by driving it within 5 miles of their house and c). being back home mid-week without a real great excuse.

Now I've got everything in place with a week left to go until said anniversary. I had earrings, a dress, and a pair of shoes wrapped up and ready and Terri is, thus far, none the wiser. My last class on Wednesdays ended at 2:30. I had planned on showering and having the bottom half of a suit on and ready for my last class after my lunch break. That would allow me to get back to the room, change into a shirt and tie, grab my jacket, the keys, and the gifts and be in the garage at 2:45 and out of Oakland before heavy rush hour traffic started.

Wednesday came and my mother-in-law was expecting me at the door somewhere around 4-4:30ish which was just as they were to start dinner. That would have worked well since Terri could be surprised, change into the gifted outfit and we'd be back on the road before 5:00 with plenty of time to get through Pittsburgh traffic, to the incline, and ride up to the restaurant.

Morning classes sped by, I laid everything out, showered and was to my afternoon class a few minutes early to get an exit seat by the door. Class over, out the door, back to the room, completely ready to go, keys in hand and double timing it to the 3rd floor of the garage to get the car. Search up one side and down the other clicking the alarm button...no car. Ok, slight panic, but maybe he couldn't park on this floor. Up one floor to the 4th floor, same routine...no car. 1st floor, same result. 2nd floor same result. 3rd floor again, just in case, same result. Now, I'm in a full on panic. It's just after 3 and my timetable is slipping greatly. I hustle back to the dorm and call Joed's apartment (this is pre-cell phone for everyone). No one was home. Tom wasn't back from class yet so I headed to the engineering buildings on campus to see if I could spot Joed, Tom, or anyone that knew where either one might be. No dice. Once more around the buildings and I start heading back to the dorm. At this point, I actually find Tom, but he hasn't seen Joed or the car.

I head back to the dorm for another call and still no answer. I've called my mother-in-law and she said she'd stall for as long as possible, but didn't know how she could stop Terri from having dinner with the rest of the family. I'm just about ready to admit defeat when I see Brett walking down the hall of the dorm. Brett is a senior with a car. I quickly lay out the situation, helped by the fact that I'm in a suit and holding a gift and he agrees to lend me the car on the condition of gas and some music copies from my collection. I toss him Joed's keys, grab his and head to the garage. This car is actually where it was supposed to be and I climb in and start heading for Terri's house.

By now, it's after 4 and I'm in full on rush hour traffic. Now, it is Pittsburgh which means it isn't bumper to bumper gridlock until late evening, but every minute from Oakland to 79 seems to take multiple hours. As I finally rid myself of traffic, I notice Brett's car is shaking a bit and starting to overheat. I nurse it down the highways and back roads and instead of heading to Terri's, I detour to my parent's house. I attempt to summarize the situation to my dad while explaining that I needed to not only take one of their cars, but have him fix Brett's car so I could return it. I finally arrive at Terri's house close to 6:00 and find out that yes, she's surprised to see me, but she's had a full dinner against the protestations of her mom. She quickly heads upstairs to change while I attempt to explain to her parents what has transpired. She comes downstairs, looking breath-taking I might add, and we get the actual course of the night underway.

On the drive back into the city, she listens to my day thus far and laughs at all the difficulties knowing that we'll have a phenomenal night to celebrate our first year together and she'll have a great story to tell in school tomorrow. She also tries to figure out exactly where we're going all dressed up. I refuse to give up the last detail of the evening, I only tell her that it's going to be romantic and everything she deserves.

Now, if you remember back to the conversation with my Uncle, he suggested adding the incline ride for a bit more romance. So I follow the west end, park at Station Square and get on the incline headed up to Mt. Washington. For those of you familiar with Pittsburgh geography, yes...it is ok to start laughing now. Because about halfway up the face of the mountain, it occurs to me that my Uncle didn't specify which incline and I didn't ask. I went to the one I was most familiar with. The Monongahela Incline starts at Station Square and drops you off on the platform at 1 Grandview Avenue. The Georgetowne Inn is at 1230 Grandview Avenue. It is approximately 1 mile from the Monongahela Incline platform to the Duquesne Incline platform (which is where I should have been). And yes, Terri and I walked the entire mile to the restaurant arriving about 3 minutes before our reservation.

The food was excellent and after our evening exercise, we were both famished. We made an even deeper connection that night and it served to strengthen a love that has grown since that day. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, a cab back to Station Square from the restaurant, a ride home with no traffic, my dad fixing Brett's car, my return to campus and returning all cars/keys, etc. Turns out Joed had been running late and parked in a lot behind the engineering buildings forgetting he was supposed to be in the garage. Everyone on the floor had an excellent laugh at the rest of the story and went on about their evenings.

When the time came in 1994 to to decide what we were going to do for our yearly anniversary, there was no question. We returned to the Georgetowne Inn on September 29th in 94-99, again from 01-09, and 11-12. 18 out of 20 years. We only missed the two years due to being out of state on the 29th.

We celebrated good things there in addition to our anniversary and on the platform of the Duquesne Incline a few years after our first anniversary dinner, I put a quarter in the view finder on the platform and told Terri she had to see the view. While she was adjusting the lens, I pulled a ring box from my pocket got down on one knee and told her I needed to ask her a question. She said yes on that platform in view of everyone from the Georgetowne and the couples dining closest to the side window applauded when they realized what was going on outside.

So yeah, when I saw that text message today and found the article in the paper confirming the closure, I called Terri to let her know and she suggested we simply take the kids and have dinner there tonight since we'd be out of town from the evening of the 3rd to the 7th and she works Tuesday nights. Luckily, I was able to get a reservation and we were able to once again dine in "our" restaurant and have the kids see a little bit of their parent's past. And, I was able to buy the pewter souvenir plate with the embossed name of the restaurant so that we'll have a lasting tangible memento to go with all of the memories that we've made there. From tomorrow it will be 90 days until the 29th of September this year. 90 days to narrow the search for a new restaurant to make new memories for the next 20 years of our lives together. Recommendations start...now.