09/05/2026
I started writing my toast for Eckbar’s 5 year anniversary last night… and I ended up choking up.
Because somewhere in the middle of trying to put five years of Eckbar into words, I realized I wasn’t really writing about a bar.
I was writing about five years of my life.
And holy s**t, so much life has happened.
I opened those doors not knowing what Eckbar would become or how much my own life was about to change.
I met Mike there. I fell in love. I got married. I watched my girls grow. I watched my bartenders become moms and watched their babies grow. I gained friendships I know I’ll carry for the rest of my life. I’ve celebrated some of my happiest moments there and walked through those doors carrying some of the heaviest heartbreak of my life.
There have been nights we laughed until our stomachs hurt and days I had to pull myself together before I walked in.
We’ve laughed until we cried, cried until someone made us laugh, celebrated birthdays and milestones, hugged each other through really s**tty days and probably heard enough stories across that bar to fill a hundred books.
There are people who walked into Eckbar as customers who I genuinely cannot imagine my life without now.
And there are people who once filled those stools whose absence I still feel when I look around the room.
That little corner bar has seen so many versions of me.
It watched me fall in love and become a wife.
It held me through loss and heartbreak.
It gave me friendships, memories, and a family I never could have planned for.
I opened Eckbar thinking I was building a business.
I had no idea I was building the backdrop to some of the most important years of my life.
And maybe that’s what got me last night.
I’m always so busy worrying about what’s next, what needs to be done, what I could do better, whether I’m doing enough… that I rarely stop and look at what’s already here.
Last night I did.
And for a minute, I could see all five years at once.
The people. The laughter. The tears. The love. The losses. The friendships. The babies. The wedding. The memories. The thousands of ordinary nights that somehow became a life.
I built a little corner bar.
And somewhere along the way, a whole beautiful piece of my life was built inside of it too.
Five years, you guys.🥹❤️
Last night, I realized just how much has happened between opening those doors for the first time and standing here almost five years later.
If writing the toast already did this to me, I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to say it out loud on October 24th. 😢
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving me, my bartenders, and my little corner bar ❤️
Xoxo, Mel