A couple weekends ago, we packed our bags and headed to Fredericksburg to celebrate my great grandmother's 102nd birthday. Fredericksburg is a small German city right in the middle of Texas that is full of a lot of family history (on my mom's side). I get nostalgic every time I go there. It is small and you drive though the hill country to get there. Main Street is lined with bakeries, breweries, toy shops, trinket stores, and any other shop you can imagine. The streets are wide and the festivals are always a big deal there.
My Oma owned a big house that was right across the street from a beautiful Catholic Church, it had a huge backyard with big trees and it backed up to a large piece of land. The land was flat and she let the high school behind her house use it for football and later donated it to become their football field. When we were younger and would go for holidays or just family get togethers, we would all climb through the wire fence and play football and baseball on the field. She had a big attic that was turned into 3 large bedrooms with a lot of beds to fit all of her children and grandkids that came to visit. I always loved exploring her attic and sleeping up there.
A few years ago, the church bought her house from her and in return bought her a newer home in a different neighborhood that was easier for her to maintain as she aged. So now when we go back, it always feels a little different not being able to go back to the same house that we used to spend weekends and holidays in.
She is still the same kind lady that makes the best oatmeal ever, who did races, walks, and participated in and ran clubs until she was 90, and who brings our entire family together.
We spent the day going to a few shops on Main Street that I used to be obsessed with as a child, like a candle store where they hand carve and dip them right in front of you and a 5, 10, and 25 cent shop. We went to lunch with my aunts, uncles, and cousins at a brewery on Main and we both got different kinds of schnitzels even though we had no idea what that meant. They turned out to be delicious. And we went to visit with the birthday girl herself, who still insists on getting up and walking herself over to pick out her own cookies and birthday pies.
1. Polaroid from a August 2012 with Oma
2. St. Mary's Catholic Church across the street from her old house
3. Some candle making action
4. A small view of her collection of metals
5. Her old house, which has now been restored a lot. New paint, a smaller porch, smaller top windows.
6. The birthday girl
7. Schnitzels
8. Main Street
1 comment:
man i wish i could have been there. who knows when the family will all go out there again together. hopefully soon. damon doesn't know it but one day i'm going to buy that house back, i don't care what it costs.
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