Memory Lane

So after our trip up to Chicago, I decided that since I'm not North that often it would be a good time to teach Leah some family history. It probably didn't mean much to her then, but I hope someday she will think back to the stories I told her. My mom, Gigi, grew up in the Kankakee area. I don't visit much anymore, since my grandparents are gone, but I want my kids to know where they came from.

We started at the Zion Lutheran Church in Bonfield, Il...its the church my mother attended as a child. She was confirmed there, married there...and my grandparents were both laid to rest in the church cemetary. I showed Leah their resting place. As we walked back to the car, she noticed the dates on some all the way back to the early 1800's. We also pointed out all the German.

Afterwards, we headed into Herscher, mostly because I needed gas. But I told Leah about how Gigi graduated from High school there and then showed her the house that my Grandmother lived in at 196 Kay St. She hasn't lived there in nearly 10 years but I still know the address. I got teary eyed, telling Leah about how when I was in graduate school at the U of I, I would occasionally drive up and bring lunch to my grandmother. Not near often enough, but I'm glad I have those memories.

Then we went on to Buckingham. As we were leaving town I showed her the curve on the edge of Herscher. I remember learning to drive up there, in drivers ed with my dad. I took that curve to fast on a cold icy winters day once upon a time. Once we got to Buckingham I had no trouble finding the house. As a kid I always thought it was so big, but it didn't look nearly as towering this time. I probably hadn't been there in at least 20 years but the memories came flooding back. How my cousins and I would climb those porch walls and play on that porch swing. I shared how we jumped from the pedestal that the lions now sit on. I showed Leah the windows to the bedroom that was Gigi's as a girl. And told her how my Grandma made cherry pies from the tree right outside her kitchen window. The cherry tree was gone, the peony bushes out front too...but the memories last forever.

A few weeks back after a family funeral up North Gigi wanted to show me her grandparents farms. That's what the maps are from. I marked them on my GPS. Both were East of Buckley, Il. My family members are mostly buried at the St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Woodworth. The Bohlmann's were my Grandmother's mothers family and the Zum Mallen's were my Grandmothers fathers family. Family is important, and I won't forget.