Rumour's, Josephine's and a Trip Back in Time

It's Thursday night, President's Day Weekend, and Jude and the boys have driven up to Sewanee ahead of me, braving the wind, rain, and fog to arrive tonight at the house we rented for the long weekend.  

After finishing up a mediation - my third of the week, all unsuccessful - I worked late and arrived home just after they had left.  With a rare night at home to myself, I had dinner at the bar at Josephine's, then began the laborious task of packing my clothes for the trip.  Like nothing else, I hate to pack for a trip and almost always do it at the last minute.  That says something about me, I know, and I suspect it's not good.  

Josephine's wasn't crowded tonight and as I discussed the dinner menu with the bartender and drank a glass of Cabernet, I lost myself in a memory of a Sunday night dinner a decade ago at Rumour's Wine Bar with Hal Humphreys and J.P., who probably was three or four years old.  Before it was torn down, Rumour's proudly sat where Josephine's is now, a small house with great patio on 12th Avenue before 12South was 12South. 

Here's what Hal's eloquent and talented wife, Kim Green, had to say about Rumour's when she learned it was closing.

https://aviatrixkim.com/2012/01/03/rumours-12south-closing-soon/

A few years earlier, Christy and Jenn decided to open on Sunday nights for dinner.  Although I don't recall how it all came together, I suspect Hal called me, and told me to meet him at Rumour's for dinner one of the first Sunday nights they were open.  I put J.P. in the stroller and we walked up to 12th Avenue to meet Hal at Rumour's.

Hal, J.P., and I had the restaurant to ourselves that night.  Our friend, chef, and owner of Mirror - a restaurant across the street - was cooking that night.  As Hal and I talked to Jenn and drank a glass of wine, Michael and J.P. made out dinner in the kitchen.  I remember - vividly - Michael showing J.P. how to cut up apples and J.P. being so proud to help him.

I also remember that somehow, someway, Jenn or Michael had managed to get line caught Salmon, so fresh it had been in the water earlier that day, in the restaurant that night.  It was, without a doubt, the best salmon I have eaten in my life.  

Really, it was a perfect night and one I'll always remember.  Hal, J.P., and me, together at Rumour's, with Michael hopping in and out of the kitchen and Jenn stopping by our table to talk with us.  It was a simpler time in my life then, for sure.  12South was a different place, too.  A neighborhood, not a tourist destination.

I miss Rumour's.  I miss Jenn and Christy.  I miss having a neighborhood hangout where I always knew I would see people from the neighborhood.