This evening at 6:49 PM ET -- my cousin Kevin Sweeney (a ND GO IRISH
BLOG regular) sent me a text with this video attached of a burning
building...
It wasn't just any burning building it was a monument to my youth. You see, my Grandpa and Grandma Doyle opened a brand new restaurant/bar in Mecosta County (Michigan) on the northern shore of Blue Lake -- on July 4, 1941 -- see add promoting it in a local newspaper.
- "We've had our annual company dinner here for the last 26 years..."
- "I had my first date here..."
- "Your Grandpa and my Dad were great friends..."
- "We celebrated our wedding reception here -- this is devastating..."
- "I drove up from Michigan State to have my first legal drink here and cousin RJ brought over my Uncle Ray (my Grandpa) to serve me that drink..."
- "I have called all my brothers and sister Maggie -- we're all devastated..."
- This note came from one of the Mayer's -- a family we loved like our own, that had 19 children -- many of whom worked at one time for my grandparents at Doyle's Supper Club.
- "I wish I could spend an hour with you to tell you the story about the time my dad and Jim Bouton had a little to much to drink one night at Doyle's Supper Club..."
This special place has changed ownership over the years -- it's now called Blue Lake Tavern. But, what never changed was how important this piece of real estate was to me, our family, our friends and the many I've never met in this rural region of the world.
Yet, what has surprised me the most is how profound my grief is. This was HOME and now she is in ashes... Tough to swallow.
Memories are all that is left...
Yes, I'd rather go to Grandpa's house
Than any place I know
For Grandpa says I'm his boy
And, Grandma love me so...
This is a poem that Grandma Doyle would ALWAYS recite to her eight grandkids...
