Diners might not seem like much. They don’t usually have a reputation for having stellar food, great service, or creating a great dining experience. However, to me, diners hold a special place in my heart. They are magical places that have the power to bring people together in a relaxed environment. Whether I am going with my friends or family, diners never fail to bring me a good experience.

The local diner in my small suburban might not seem like much on the outside, but it means a lot to me. The seemingly boring outside walls and normal, comfortable interior were home to some of my favorite childhood memories. The diner became a regular spot for me and my friends to hang out and have fun together. After every big event from the start of middle school, all the way through high school, my friends and I would all head to the diner and spend hours eating, talking and laughing. Something about that atmosphere allowed me to bond and become closer with everyone. Maybe it’s the food, which is always simple and pleasurable, or the relaxed, unsophisticated atmospheres that put us at ease and let us have fun. I owe the local diner for making me closer to some of my high school friends and being the location where I laughed at stupid things my friends said and ate food that to me tasted like happiness.

Even though I have long left my middle school days and my friends and I can now drive to new restaurants and have new experiences, the diner still is a number one spot for us to go when we are home from school. My best friend and I jump in her car, turn up the music and drive to our favorite spot, to catch up on all the random details of our college lives. Even though we are living in different states and no longer see each other every day, it’s easy for us to reconnect in those diner booths, eating our favorite breakfast food. To us, the diner is more than just a location. It’s a symbol of our childhood, of happy memories, and of important conversations. If the walls of the diner had ears and a mouth it would tell all about our conversations of surviving high school, figuring out college, and whatever other weird comments that popped into our minds.

Not only are diners magical places of memory, they are home to my favorite type of food. The best part about diners is that they never try to dictate what you eat and when you eat it. There are no separate breakfast, lunch and dinner menus; instead you can eat what you want at any time of day. In diners, we are not bound by the socially constructed rules of what dictates breakfast and dinner food. Instead we are free to choose to eat what we love for whichever meal we desire. This freedom of food expression is vital for happiness. As an avid breakfast food lover, I rejoice in the face of the freedom to eat my pancakes for dinner if I choose.