Springfield, IL

September 9, 2009
Springfield, IL

Mom is moved out of her condo, all her things are in storage, and we made it back to join Evan and the boys here in Springfield, Illinois. Whew.

Where am I?

I never lived in Springfield but I have been coming back here since I was a baby. My mom was born and raised here along with her 2 sisters and her brother. All Springfield High School graduates. My great grandfather and great grandmother lived down on 4th and Allen Street. Maybe you know them – Minnie and Ace? My grandmother, Evelyn Adele Mama and her husband,Poppa Al, lived over on Douglas Street for the last 10 years. Mama Dell died last spring at 97 years old. Now there was a woman who knew how to have a good time. She would put a hat on and walk around the block and call it a party.

My wonderful aunt and uncle live in a big house down from Washington Park and they have embraced the addition of our RV to their driveway. They were with us for a few days before they took off for a few weeks to Italy so we are house sitting along with my Mom.

Before they left we had a family reunion in the park next to the playground. KFC, pizza, Chex mix, delicious salads and too many desserts. Heaven. Josh and Simon were astounded by the amount of delicious food and the number of second cousins who were their age – even one with red hair.

I imagine most family reunions are like this - where people gather by generation. The elders gather in a circle of lawn chairs talking about their shared memories. The great aunts and uncles that use to share memories of the Great War and life in the 1930’s and 40’s have made way for my mom’s generation talking about the 1950’s and their Capezio flats. My generation is in the bull pen waiting to be called up. What will we talk about? 70’s pop music and bell bottoms?

We have toured the new Lincoln Museum www.presidentlincoln.org (fabulous), visited with my aunt and uncle who live out in the country, ridden our bicycles through never ending corn fields and past old farm houses, visited the Frank Lloyd Wright Dana Thomas House (www.dana-thomas.org) and dreamed about fountains for our new house - where ever that may be, found the Mel-O-Cream donut factory www.mel-o-cream.com, participated in Baskin Robbins Tuesday Family Night specials, started school for the boys (no small feat!) , Josh has made two batches of heath bar crunch cookies from scratch all by himself, and we have spent lazy afternoons with my mom playing Monopoly and hearing her stories of Springfield in the 1950’s.

Today we are off in my uncles Buick for a 1.5 hour drive north to Peoria to check out a planetarium and see the Peoria Chiefs play in the minor league baseball playoff game. Tomorrow New Salem, IL is on the agenda to tour the re-enactment of life on the prairie during Lincoln’s era and for the Bluegrass festival.

Hmmm. Maybe Springfield would be a good place to settle once we are finished with the Big Adventure.
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