Grand Rapids Mich – My Hometown
My hometown (also known as “Home of Record” to the military) is Grand Rapids, Michigan. Born in Butterworth Hospital, it has grown to a major metropolis in the United States, and home for the happy growth of the Reibeling family.
As I have traveled around the globe, Grand Rapids and my alma mater, Michigan State University, ease into my life and bring back fond memories. (Memories are usually fond, I tend to blank out the bad ones:)). For instance, after a two-day motorcycle ride to Moron Spain from Germany, I sat down in the lobby waiting for a room and picked up a copy of Spartan News. I’ll never forget the warm fuzzy in that totally new environment! There have been similar instances in Africa, Central America, Australia, and Japan:)
The latest episode was this summer’s trip to nearby Pico Island, a place where you can drive for about an hour to see most of it, all centered around the highest volcano and mountain in Portugal. Fishing villages, warm and friendly people, great fish, history, and seascapes, a fantastic outdoor equipment shop called “The Sniper,” and untold festivals. One of our friends was born on the island and they were ecstatic to take us to a bayside cafe for lunch. We waited a short time for them to open (yes, dear, go shop for some clothes until the cafe opens!) and we were seated across the channel from whale watching tour boats prepping for afternoon visitors. For centuries, Pico was a major whaling port.
We ordered Vinho Tinto (c’mon, we’re in Portugal with the best red wine in Europe!) and the waiter sets the table. I look down at the placemat, an eclectic brown paper reprint of newspaper ads, and the first thing I see is an ad for Fox Typewriters on Front Street in Grand Rapids Michigan. Front Street is just a few miles from where my grandmother lived and I grew up. Home!
So I get homesick. Again. I miss the major snowstorms, the blueberry picking, the swimming in Lake Michigan. I miss Mr. Fables on Lake Michigan Drive and their Oliveburger (thanks for remembering Wendy:), A & W Root Beer floats, the public museum with the blue whale skeleton, and the woods of Blandford Nature Center and C.A. Frost Elementary School. (A good friend’s children now go there, but the palyground where I had my first romantic kiss has changed somewhat since second grade 🙂
All these thoughts and emtions flood back as I’m sitting in Madelena, Pico enjoying fresh fish and great wine with great friends. I can smile at them, recall one or two significant memories, and know that they won’t have the same feelings I am experiencing, just as I don’t truly appreciate tales of their youth on the island. (I did get to meet several relatives, warm wonderful people who shared their lives, sotries, and their aguar dente!)
Expereinces like these are small world stories…they help me cherish the tales of old and cherish the life I’ve retired to!