A Trip Down Memory Lane – Part 1

  Posted on May 30, 2011  by Leslie Blythe  3 comments

I have come to the land if my childhood. I grew up in Goshen and Elkhart, Indiana. I left when I was 13 years old in 1974. I haven’t see my family since then, so I am a bit nervous. It’s only been 37 years! I have very fond memories of my childhood. I grew up in the heart of Amish / Mennonite country. We had 4 very distinct, text book seasons. Because I never had to get up and scrape the ice off the windshield, light a lighter on the lock to thaw the ice and get the damn car started, I loved it. The sense of smell is really the strongest of my senses, which, of course, is connected to taste. I guess that is why I am a perfume addict. I love French perfume, and have way too much, but I digress!

The real reason I am going back to Indiana is to see my cousin Jeff. We reconnected on Facebook a few years ago and have struck up a rapport. He was a toddler when I moved to Los Angeles. There are certain people that you just click with and Jeff is one of those people to me – very smart, very, very funny and is incredibly courageous. Unfortunately, he has Leukemia. He has a rare donor profile and needs a bone marrow transplant. I would give him mine right now, I will see if I am a match, which is unlikely.

One of the things that my cousin and I argue (if you could call it that) is thin crust versus Chicago-style pizza! Apparently, he is a master at making Chicago style deep-dish pizza. The problem with all if this is that it’s comparing apples to oranges. I am really looking forward to trying it – I will keep an open mind and mouth…..

I also found my best friend from 7th grade on Facebook. It took some digging, but I did it. For some inexplicable reason, I keep all the notes that she stuffed into my locker in 7th grade, even the ones that said, “Rip up after you read this!”