Diners and Me.

There's been a diner that's been monumental in every important stage in my life, and it was only today that i realized this. Growing up in philadelphia my dad would take me to a diner all the time as we played hooky from my daycare. There was a whole routine we had. I would beg to watch under the umbrella tree and fraggle rock and we'd be later and later for leaving to go to school. We'd hop in the grey fox we had and go to the diner where i'd always finish the meal with a piece of bazooka joe bubble gum, the kind with the cartoon strip in it. Finally we'd get to my school and i'd be the last kid there, and my dad and i knew exactly why that was, and no one else did. Our secret. 

Then there was the diner that was in a rundown strip mall by the place that i figured skated every day all day for years and years. We didn't go there too often, but when we did i always knew it'd be a good day. It meant we'd gotten to where we were going a little bit early, and had enough time to do something that wasn't in the normal routine. 

The argonaut is the next diner that popped up into my life. Long nights ending with neon lighting and flowery pleather booths, the corner table if you were lucky that had the rolling chair at the head. Spontaneous brunches. Late night talks. Dinners with a friend. So many fries and shakes, sometimes the salad. Squeezing 10 people into one car or sometimes sneaking away with one person and having no one notice.

I wonder what diner will be next.