Chat with Deb — Anniversary Dinner
Twenty-three years went by FAST!
So 23 years ago, 5 February 2000, Deb and I got married at the Yorktowne Hotel. Those of you in the south-central PA area may know that the Yorktowne, once the grande dame of the area hotels, has been going through renovation for the last several years, after being bought by Hilton. But it opened again at the very end of January 2023.
DEB: You know what we should do! We should see if we can get dinner at one of the restaurants.
ME: On our actual anniversary? Honey, that’s brilliant!
So Deb and I decided to have dinner there Sunday night to see how the old girl is going.
The menu was great, the service was excellent, and almost nobody was there, which we liked on one level but had us worried about commercial viability.
Fortunately, the restaurant is just off the lobby, and we saw a decent number of guests checking in, so no worries. About that part, anyway.
ME: Okay, the front desk behind you, Debster? Remember that young man who was there when we got here? Well, mid-twenties, whatever. He’s been joined by an older gentleman. And they are both looking at a computer screen with very serious expressions.
DEB: They haven’t even been open a week, I bet there are still bugs in the system.
ME: There are always bugs in the system. Is it a room key not working the first time bug, or a “you can’t be in room 557, there are only twenty rooms on that floor” kind of bug, that’s the question.
After dinner our server, Heather, gave us a quick look around; she had been on tour duty two days before for First Friday,¹ so she knew the spiel for describing the changes and upgrades. Plus she had been working at the hotel since 1998! We got to see the spot where we had our (very small, close family only) wedding, which is almost unrecognizable now but looks great.²
DEB: Oh honey, what a wonderful night!
ME: Good thing our anniversary didn’t coincide with First Friday!
DEB: All those people? Oh, that would have been awful! I much preferred having the place mostly to ourselves.
¹I have not heard of “First Fridays” outside of our area, so I don’t know if it’s a general thing now. Basically it’s a chance for the downtown area of a city to stay up late and party. Businesses can stay open and cater to a clientele that normally works during the day, bars and restaurants put on specials, and people wander the streets (literally, in some cases, when the cops block them off) and have a nice time. Several cities and towns around here now observe First Friday on the first Friday of most months, with some variations depending on locale.
²The mezzanine overlooked (and still does) the grand ballroom. The weekend we booked the wedding, there was work being done on the ballroom, so there would be no danger of anybody using it for a weekend function, and workers don’t work on Saturday. However! The workers had varnished the wooden ballroom floor on Friday. Saturday morning, when we got there to set up, the place stank of varnish and the air was almost unbreathable. No worries! The staff curtained off the mezzanine, ran fans, and set up huge pots of sliced oranges and lemons and spices. By the time we were ready to roll, the mezzanine smelled like a Christmas fruit market, but not like an industrial site. Very good memories of the Yorktowne Hotel staff, who insisted this was just what they did.
³Bill and Deb got divorced after Bill realized he was gay. In some ways, though, Bill was still part of the family, and my new brothers-in-law filled me in on “Bill stories” like he was just one of the cousins. Bill also had a knack for floral arrangements, so he insisted on doing the general decorating, the table centerpieces, and the bouquets for the bride and mother-of-the-bride. Bill died of cancer several years ago, and we miss him.
