Act I, Scene I

A few months ago, H and I suffered a pretty significant loss...Starfish Sushi - the location of our first date (2 years ago today), had just up and closed on us. No warning. No dear John letter. Just locked doors and a bright orange City of Chicago sticker was all that was left. When H learned of this news, she was noticeably disappointed - she takes these things hard...when she lost her cell phone last March - she was hysterical. She had lost all of the messages - including the first VM - that I had left her ("Hi - this is [T] - the hyper-sensitive gorilla you met Saturday...") and some of my more randy (spelling) text messages. This was kind of like that. We only had a few dates at SFS - the last of which was a year ago - for our last anniversary... that did not darken the special place in our collective hearts for its slightly off maki and lychee martinis. We must have sat in the front booth by the door for hours that night - first, nervously working around the edges of conversation and then, as the night grew more comfortable, laughing, discussing and sharing our stories - life with H, for the most part, is effortless, we get eachother - and that night, at our old friend, was the beginning.It was (and is) a part of our history - the starting point...our Lexington (or Concord?). Act I, Scene I. The first chapter of our story...

So, tonight, we'll begin new traditions... Graham Elliot. We are excited - we have heard wonderful things. But we'd be remiss if we didn't miss Starfish just a little...