nostalgia

School starts in a couple of weeks and we're squeezing in some pretty intensive travel before getting away becomes increasingly difficult. We're visiting Mimi (my mom) in Edina, Missouri for a few days right now. I drove up with the kids without the husband...it takes about three hours and they did so well on the drive. We didn't have to stop a single time for little bladders or nursing baby! Wowie! That's definitely a first.

The trip has a special sweetness this time around. Ella has really been interested in hearing stories about me when I was a little girl. I remember feeling the same way about my own mother and grandmother. Something about learning more about their childhood gives us a sense of who we are and where our roots are. And there's a sense of magic and mystery about imagining what your own mother was like when she was little like you. So this trip has a bit of that mixed in. Recently, Ella has been asking for lots of stories about me as a girl, you might remember me referencing this curiosity in an earlier post.

One of the stories I've told her was about how my cousin Katie and I (most stories of any interest involve my cousin Katie) left our beloved Cabbage Patch dolls at the park underneath the slide and when we went to retreive them, they had vanished. We posted MISSING signs all over town and cried ourselves to sleep. The climax to that story was when our grandma Florence showed up to school the following week with them in her arms as the local sheriff had seen them as he closed up the park that night and claimed them for lost and found. Today I took my kids to that park and they slid down the slide. They also rode on the metal rocking horses that I sat on at my birthday party and got stung by a bee right on my wee little bottom. (Oh how I remember that day!)

After the park we climbed back in the car to partake of a kiddie cone in Rutledge, Missouri. My grandparents lived there when my mom was little and my grandpa Jack always kept a residence there even after my grandma Florence moved to Edina to start her beauty shop. His house still stands overlooking the pond that he dug out himself for fishing. We visited the Minnonite Store called Zimmerman's, which I always have to make time for. They have all kinds of bulk goods like organic spelt flour and rolled oats and fresh local produce. And they've been around since before it was cool to buy local. Their freshly baked breads are amazing...we bought a loaf of organinc whole wheat and it's scruptuous toasted with butter. Anyway....the ice cream there is 30 cents for a kid size cone which was perfect since I only had one dollar in my billfold! (Totally have to have cash and a check book in rural communities!)

Zimmerman's Minnonnite Store: Groceries, fabric, general store and restaurant!

After Zimmerman's, we went over a couple of blocks to the old Rutledge School. We played on the slide and teeter totters where my grandparents played. I love all the history. I think these places won't be around much longer since all the small towns I grew up around seem to be slowly dying.

The most exciting part of this trip is that we'll be visiting my Uncle Steve and Aunt Elaine. They are my cousin Katie's parents and Ella is so pumped. In her mind, Katie is like a fairy tale and she is going to see the house where Katie and I had many of our adventures. I'm so thrilled to introduce her to my aunt and uncle who have never met any of my kids. It's a pretty exciting day for me too! Hopefully they won't bang the keys on the grand piano!