Russian River Pub, Forestville

I watched a program on one of the food networks tonight...something about dives, diners, and something else...that I found interesting. My wife popped into the room as I was watching it, gleefully telling me that the host was a co-owner of Johnny Garlic's (or something like it), a restaurant we'd visited during one of our trips to the SF Bay area. My wife and I love to visit diners, dives, and the like, so I was intrigued by the program.

The last sequence was about the Russian River Pub in Forestville, CA, a place we fell in love with a few years ago when we'd pop up to Santa Rosa to visit my wife's sister, brother, and mother. The last time we were there, the owner (at the time) told us they were ready to sell. By that time, I had grown deeply dissatisfied with my line of work and my work life, in general, and was excited to learn that the place was for sale. With no experience running a pub, though, it seemed silly even to consider it. We talked about it, but our other obligations were too taxing.

Someone else bought the place, though, and it seems the couple who did are delighted. The food, the atmosphere, and the location all conspire to make me want to go back, to see what it is that I missed doing. No, not to see what I missed, so much, as to give me direction the next time something presents itself as a wondeful opportunity to take a new direction...i.e., 'don't pass this by.'

I'm anxious to share this with my favorite wife...but she's been asleep for awhile now. When I saw that it was the Russian River Pub coming up on the program, I ran to the bedroom to alert her, but she had long since entered slumberland. She'll be surprised on Monday.