Okay, so maybe we weren’t as far north as Chicago, but still, it WAS windy! Despite the gusty weather and the whole reason I went to Illinois to begin with, I really enjoyed my weekend back “home”.
It’s been 4 years since my last visit to my parents hometown. Some things have really changed. Like the house my dad was raised in. The same house we spent numerous holidays crammed into, enjoying Gram’s homemade cooking. Nothing is left there except for a gravel lot. So sad.
But other things have not changed. The city park where I played many, many times during my childhood is still a beautiful centerpiece in downtown Streator. Jeremy and I took the kids there one night to play and I was pleasantly surprised to see all the lightning bugs. Oh, I had forgotten about how many lightning bugs come out at night! We had so much fun catching them and letting them light up in our hands.
After the memorial service we headed out to the cemetary. My Grandma Lou was buried next to my Grandpa and so we visited his gravesite. I immediately thought of all the times Gram took me there with her to put flowers or flags on Gramp’s marker. She took such good care of it for so long. This time there were no flowers. No flags.
A little later on Saturday afternoon we took the kids to the Majestic theater to see WALL.E. Just walking in that place brought back even more memories. This is one of those old theaters. The kinds with a balcony and 3 aisles. Where the seats are in a semi-circle facing the screen that sits on a stage. WALL.E wasn’t in that particular room of the theater, I think they must have added on another, but I distinctly remember it from the day my Grandma took me to see E.T. over 20 years ago!
We finished off our trip with lunch at Twin Creeks, the golf course where my Grandma was a member for many years. She would drag me out there, a reluctant teenager too “cool” for golf, to play 9 holes. I never really enjoyed it at the time, but grew to like the game, in part thanks to her. I think going out there Sunday morning for a round of 18 was the perfect way to end a weekend memorial just for her.
2 Comments
The picture of you and Emery is just too cute!! I am so sorry about your grandma, but it sounds as if the weekend went well. You have so many good memories!!!
How was Wall-E? I’ve heard some pretty good reviews about it. My daughter is anxious to see it.
Sounds like a “good” weekend even though you were not there
under such “good” conditions.