Renewing memories

Alright, just for clarification purposes:
This blog is going to be really unorganized (obviously) and not always easy to read. Writing doesn't come naturally to me and putting my thoughts into words is not my forte. If you know me, you know that I tend to "drop sentences"..."Well this one day I dsjkfghiedjfnllMEHH." Ha. I just want to let you know that I mean well. I really want you to be able to "walk" with me through my new experiences. I feel like I've been learning so much through my many trips and somehow I'd like to attempt to pass that on. Forgive me when I can't make things clear and laugh at me when I make a mess of it. =] Most of all, have fun here. I hope I can at least make you smile through my words.

And now back to Pella, Iowa. Where it:
1. Doesn't actually smell.
2. Isn't boring.
3. Does harbor some different family. But I am who I am because of these people!

So halfway through the second day of being here my dad brought me down to the little square and we walked around it hand-in-hand. We went into Jaarsma's Bakery where you can get the best bismark in the country. I felt like a little dutch girl who should have been wearing here wooden shoes and bonnet. =] He told me stories of the people who own shops and how he knows a lot of the people who have chosen to spend their whole lives here. He reminded me of how mom and he met and even showed me the many houses he had lived in while growing up here. As we walked I let the memories sink in along with the sun. It was really fun to hear all of the stories.
Realization struck. This is where I was born. (I saw the church I was baptized in!) This is where my roots are and part of who I am. It's been amazing to see things and connect them to my memory of coming here to visit in the past. Just today as dad and I drove around the town, we passed by the playground that I believed to be a castle as a kid. It still is pretty impressive which is awesome. A lot of times things tend to lose their majestical feel when you revisit the past, but not this. I went back by myself just to swing and absorb. My best friend Lauren and I used to strip to our underwear and run around in that park (through water fountains and sprinklers...it was all in good taste, haha) during the summer. We'd buy little dutch waffle cookie things and chow down as we swung as high as we possibly could. It was there that my brothers taught me how to hide in the "peaks" of a playground.
How can I have so many memories of a place that I only knew as a 5 year old?? I'm not sure, but it's amazing. I'll be walking by an old building and like a wave, a memory will come to me. I find comfort and love here in a way that can't be found anywhere else. And I love it.
My family is odd. Have you met me?! Haha. When we went over to grandma's the other day I watched descendence in action. I don't know if I just made up a word..but I'll explain. Grandma was doing things and saying things that I see in Dad all the time. And then Dad was doing and saying things that I see in myself every now and then. I'm like my grandma! I haven't seen her in years and to meet her and appreciate her for the first time is interesting. I get my blue eyes from her. I get my stubborness from her as well. And a lot more too...
So pretty much I've realized that this place is beautiful. It represents a part of me that no other place does and instead of being a surly teenager that drags her feet, I'd rather be a young woman (did I just call myself a WOMAN? wierd) exploring her past.
I can't wait for tomorrow when the rest of my siblings show up. That means more stories and more fun. =]
I'll leave some pictures tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get a shot of my "castle!"