Finding Family....

Steve with his newly found sisters in California

As a follow up to my previous entry, spending the day with Laura at her fabulous establishment, Beetz Me in Princeton, IL, was truly a lovely experience.  Not only was it a wonderful day for sales, on a personal level - it just left me feeling contented and having come full circle in my circumstances in spending my high school years at Covenant Children's Home there.  With that said, we'll move on.

As previously shared, my husband's circumstances were very similar to that of my own.  Coming from a broken home, being split from his siblings, etc.  As I said, things really can come full circle, even later in life!

Some time in late Spring I received a phone call with a lady on the line saying "I'm looking for my brother, Steve."  After my husband's parents had split up, his mother eventually remarried.  Attempts had been made over the years to find his mom, especially became important to his sister and myself as we were having our babies.  At some point she was found, but stated that her family wasn't aware that there was a previous marriage or children, and that attempts of contact should not be made.  So...we kind of let it go, but I know my sister-in-law tried again a few times, especially since now she knew there were other siblings.

Apparently after a little bit of digging, the younger of the two of Steve's half-sisters found us!  She'd found the divorce decree, the birth certificates, approached her mother who was still in denial - but nonetheless, forged on with the help of a colleague and found us!  It was a little surreal at first... and maybe even a bit awkward, but these women were so open to the potential and possibility of the two brothers and sister that they had yet to meet.  How awesome is that?!

My husband is currently on assignment in California, where both his sisters live.  We had already been planning a visit there to the Sacremento area, so we switched gears and made plans to go to L.A.!  I have to admit, I was a little bit anxious, his older sister really wanted us to stay with her.  None of us knew anything about each other.  But we agreed and 13 total strangers occupied the same household for 9 days and it turned out fantastic!

All the cousins on Hollywood Blvd.

I think for my children, having grown up with virtually no, or very inconsistent family, it was a superb experience.  For myself, I had spent years trying to be the "glue" that held my family together and after a time, it took it's toll on my children.  So having this experience where we were the guests & every possible opportunity was given to foster fun and happiness, combined with getting to know one another, was truly the very best!  My kids are stinkers, meaning our vacations never turn out great.  I mean seriously, NEVER.  This was indeed the best vacation experience we have ever had!



a little horseplay at the pool

A true treat for me, was that my newly-found sister-in-law took the time to find out everyone's interests, created opportunities for each of my children to go and do something special and I had the great fortune to realize my life long dream of spending the day alone with my husband, driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible!



lisa looking funky and windblown down the PCH!

I am super grateful that Steve's sisters took the initiative to find us, invite us to be with them & created such an environment of comfort and fun so that we all could have the opportunity to get to know each other.  I find it to be one of the most amazing experiences in my life.  Not to mention, I totally learned about myself that I could live in Cali at any time in a red hot second AND I want to go back....SOON!



It's Been Awhile...My Journey - More on 34

I cannot believe how long it's taken for me to get back here.  Part of it is the organized side of me, that was waiting for some pictures from a friend so that I could blog in chronological order.  And part of it was that I just wasn't ready to blog about this.

In July I had the great opportunity to spend a day with a couple of friends and attend More on 34.  This is a 100-mile garage sale spanning from Sandwich to Galesburg, IL.  It was a superbly adventurous & emotional day for me.  Never thought when I woke up that morning that as we took that journey, I would begin a conversation about my journey through life as we wound through the rural roads of Illinois.

So here is Valerie & I getting ready to start our day.  Miss Martha was the road trip picture taker.  There were some fabulous vintage finds to be had....

And we finally had to set a 15-minute limit to each stop because Miss Martha was very contented to peruse...but we wanted to make some headway!  We met so many fabulous and hysterical people...  Like these gentlmen shown here, who were a little worse for drink...



We found a fabulous local city hall that had the best barbeque and crock pot sweet onions... a fantastic barn sale with some of the coolest fixtures we had ever seen and all along the way, somehow we got started on my life's story.  Now I knew we may eventually end up in Princeton, IL.  This is where I spent my high school years.  After coming from a severely broken home and being placed in a children's home - Lydia's at the age of 10.  A brief stint at a relative's house which simply did not work out, and then ending up living in a group home in Princeton, IL - Covenant Children's Home.  So we just fell into this conversation about my entire childhood throughout our journey.  It was emotional... it was personal, but it felt right.

As the day progressed, we were heading into a storm.  So here I am white knuckled and nervous, being urged on by my fellow adventurers to press on.  A few days later, I learned we did indeed drive through tornados!

I was superbly happy that we had made it through.  And low and behold right before my eyes, we end up in Princeton!  As we drove past the children's home, I felt the tears just well up (kind of like right now) and by this time I was speaking about how my husband and I had met.  We were so young, I in my senior year of highschool, he was in college on the military delayed entry program - and he was my math tutor through the high school in order to earn a little extra money.  The irony of it all is that he too came from a broken home and had lived at both of the same places I did, but at a different time, so our paths had never crossed. 



original buildings ca. 1921



It felt to me almost as if I was meant to take this journey that day... verbally...emotionally & socially.  It was, incredibly powerful.  And I cannot think of two more loving & patient people who cared and listened as I poured out the history of my 46 years of life.  Unspeakable emotion.

So, now to lighten things up a bit.  We had just gotten through this storm...we were tired, we were hungry & we found one of my favorite places to go for pie & coffee!

The Coffee Cup brings back some fond memories for me.  Growing up in Princeton, my husband had met a nice large big Greek family - the Lymberopoulos clan.  The dad had been deeply in love with his wife & had 8 children (I believe) with her & lost her in childbirth.  This crazy guy...Panos, managed to raise the most awesome group of people to ever grace this earth all on his own.  On top of it, he kinda adopted my husband into his family as he was close to his sons and by the time I met my husband, he adopted me too!

Once my husband went off to basic training, Panos would call me every week or so and say "let's go for a coffee."  We either went to Stuckey's at the end of town or the Coffee Cup.  He'd take my car "for a ride" and always made sure it was tuned up, gassed & that I had a good meal whenever I saw him.  You could see Panos often riding down Main St. on his bicycle and in later years on his moped.  A well-known, beloved man by many.  He is truly missed.

Okay so I got a little emotional again.  Back to the lighter note!  It was late in the day, but there were some fabulous little shops on Main St. and around the corner.

and the sweetest, never-ending antiques shoppe...

But the best find of all was a well-established gift & coffee shoppe - Beetz Me!

This is a fully-restored ca. 1800's hardware store which had been lovingly brought back to life by Proprietor, Laura Maxwell-Massey.  A true "gem" of Princeton.  So many fabulous things to purchase & Laura is a lovely and very friendly woman.  Things do come full circle, as my good fortune would have it, I will be doing a trunk show in her store in a few weeks on November 6th.  It was no coincidence in my opinion that we ended up meeting and I am so looking forward to "coming home" so to speak, & sharing my art with all of her lovely patrons.

Last but not least, we certainly could not leave Princeton without visiting the Red Covered Bridge.




Bureau County Red Covered Bridge - ca. 1863

As crazy teenagers, we spent alot of time on the bridge, jumping into Bureau County Creek & generally goofing off.  Ah, good times...good times.

We had a fabulous journey home....

And as you can see, Martha ended up with the lion's share of the vintage booty!

In closing I'd like to say I know it took me a long time to get here & write this.  It brings up alot of memories - sad & happy alike.  But I am so grateful that this day & that time spent with Martha & Valerie afforded me the opportunity to share and make a beautiful memory together.