Michigan
This past summer Brendan had a workshop in Flint, Michigan and I decided to go with him. When I was little we lived first in Albion and then in Holland before moving to Florida and I thought it would be fun to go on a trip down memory lane. Both Albion and Holland aren’t far from Flint, so it was a perfect opportunity. Before we left I did some research and was able to locate the exact addresses of our houses, and the houses were still there! The first thing I noticed was that everything seemed so much smaller, but maybe when you are little everything seems bigger.
The houses we lived in hadn’t changed much but the land had changed a lot. Albion is a very small, rural town and we lived outside of town on a country road. I remember a big corn field behind our house, which is now filled with trees. Our house is the one on the right and I believe we rented it from the people who lived in the house on the left. I had always thought we lived much further outside of town, but in reality it is only about a mile. It is still a beautiful country road lined with farm houses. I felt like I had stepped back in time when I drove through downtown Albion, beautiful, old brick buildings lined the street. Unfortunately a lot of the storefronts were empty.
When I arrived in Holland I was shocked at how big the city was, not what I remember much of it at all. I’m glad I had my GPS and the exact address of the house.When I drove down the street it made me a little sad, the neighborhood looked a little run down. Our house was on a dead end street and all the neighborhood kids would play together. The backyards were all open so that we could run around, now they all looked fenced in. Our neighbor behind us would ring a huge bell when it was time to go home for dinner and another neighbor down the street who had a pool would hang a flag out front when the pool was open for anyone in the neighborhood.
We didn’t live far from Lake Michigan and I vividly remember bike riding with my dad to the lake and not being able to make it the whole way…well, I was probably only 7 or 8, so I’m not sure it was my dad’s best idea:) I tried to find the park we biked to but wasn’t able to locate it.
I was driving down a nearby street and found the elementary school I went to which was only about 1/2 mile away. I walked to school, which doesn’t seem to happen much anymore. Apparently the school is no longer used and is scheduled to be torn down.
After my trip down memory lane I strolled the historic area of Holland. I enjoyed walking around and visiting Hope College where my dad worked. They’ve done a great job of rejuvenating the historic district and there are wonderful local shops and restaurants.
Jen {July 2012}