Matchbook Memories

Some years ago, before I stopped smoking, I collected matchbooks. Back then, restaurants would designate smoking and non-smoking areas for their patrons. They would use books of matches as an advertising medium, printing their name and logo on the cover.

There was no charge for these books of matches. They were usually kept in a container either at the table or at the checkout counter. I would take one in case my lighter quit working or just to have something to remind me of the restaurant. Because I find it difficult to throw away anything of value, I would pitch these matchbooks into a couple of oversized jars for possible later use.

I accumulated quite a number of them over a period of several years.

Recently while doing some house cleaning, I noticed the jars of matchbooks and removed them from a closet. I intended to empty the contents into a trash bin but when I began to look through them, I realized that these matchbooks were a kind of personal diary. They are a record of the restaurants I visited during that period of my life.

I looked more closely at the individual matchbook covers and I began to recall the names and faces of people and the events associated with my visits to theses places. I poured the contents of the jars onto the floor and I studied each matchbook carefully. One restaurant had served the most amazing seafood gumbo on earth and another had prepared the perfect prime rib, and so on. Then my mood began to sink. Suddenly, I felt hopelessly melancholy. A small tear welled up in the corner of one of my eyes. I hadn't realized how many of these restaurants had gone out of business. I thought, "There is no way to get them back. There is no way to go back there ever again. Oh, the finality of it!"

"Calm Down!" my somewhat rational personality said to my mostly emotional and often overly dramatic one. "Look at the bright side. Many of these restaurants are still in business and going gangbusters." That was true and I began to feel better. The real problem would be deciding which of them to revisit first.

As for my collection of matchbooks, I think I'll display them under glass in a large frame hung on my dining room wall. My rational side argues that might be a little tacky.