Todays guest blogger is James Cira, we call him Jimmy around here and he has to be one of the kindest Gentleman to have ever walked through the doors at Arnold's. He has been an off and on regular since way back in 1993 and we are proud to call him our friend. You are hard pressed to find a friendlier guy to pull up a stool next to. I am truly touched by this story and I'm sure you will be too.
Off and on, since 1993, I have enjoyed some of the best moments of my life at Arnold's. Even from the first moment of coming to one of our city's most treasured "watering holes," I was always enamored by the feeling of almost going back in time. If you look upon past photos of Arnold's, you can easily tell that not much has changed over the years at 210 East Eighth Street. Many times I would sit at that well-worn bar and try to imagine the different stories and tall tales that have been spoken through the years over it's aged, wooden surface The many moments of a joyful first encounter, or even some sage advice passed between a bartender and a patron. I just never imagined that I would experience a life altering moment at this same bar.
It was an early Spring evening in 2010 when I was enjoying several drinks with a very dear friend of mine who lived close by at the time. At that moment, I received a call from my newly designated ex-wife. To say that we had a rough divorce, would be a severe understatement. So, as anyone who has been in my situation can attest to, receiving a call from an "ex" while at a bar, typically has disaster written all over it.
This call was quite different in the way that most life changing calls have a habit of being. She was not calling to yell harsh criticisms, or to remind me how glad she was to no longer be my wife. This was the call that confirmed what I had learned earlier: That my five year-old son was indeed autistic. It is something that myself and my close friends had suspected for quite sometime. So, one day on my visitation, my son Sal and I went to Children's Hospital to have him tested. Being a parent, it is so difficult to sit and watch while your child struggle with basic socialization skills and not quite being at the same level as other children. For the longest time, I chose the path of denial. In fact, that was the same path she had chosen, until she had received a second opinion.
Even though we were quite certain that he was autistic, it was one of those rare moments that I was hoping to be wrong and that my ex-wife was right. That is not how it played out and, when I found out for sure, I was devastated. Of course, how I handled things then compared to now is quite different. That being said, after many shots and being consoled by my very good friend for most of the night, the stranger on the stool next to me spoke. From what I remembered about him from an alcohol induced haze, is that he was a very tall, young, good-looking guy that I had never seen before at Arnold's. He was a bright, young guy from Boston that was in town for a six-week management training program with his company. For the rest of the night, the three of us sat at that bar discussing, my wonderful son and his autism.
From that moment on, my life has changed quite a lot. I remembered waking up that very next day feeling energized and taking charge of my son's disease. I made a vow to myself that very night to take command of my life, and despite all of the differences between my ex-wife and myself, I will always be the best father that I could be. So, when I think of Arnold's, I not only think of all the wonderful moments I have spent there with very dear friends, but I think of the night that I became a man and a father to a wonderful boy with autism. It also speaks to the mystique of Arnold's. It is a place where, on any given night, you can meet a stranger with a sympathetic ear and walk out as good friends.
