saying goodbye to south amana

9.28.2011

goodbye south amana.
goodbye south amana.
goodbye south amana.
goodbye south amana.
goodbye south amana.
Summer went by in a breeze it seems. I feel like I crammed a whole year in three months! Autumn is already upon us and we are busy getting settled in our new home. Saying goodbye to South Amana was bittersweet. I was ready to move on, but it was hard leaving the few friends I made there. I used to walk to the post office almost every day and there I met the post "mistress" Jan who would chat with me about wedding prep (her daughter was getting married too) and all sorts of things. She was the best! I also later met Dorothy, who is in her nineties. She and Jan went on walks together every day on Jan's break. I would see them pass by my church while they were on their walks. I didn't get to know Dorothy until a few months before moving, but she is the sweetest lady I've ever met! She said she would cry every time she walked by our empty house. Dorothy is one of those people I wish I could be around all the time. I bet she has a lot of wonderful stories to tell. When I told her about our moving to Chicago she looked a bit worried and said, "Oh be careful! That's a dangerous place!" I think she lived and grew up in Amana her whole life so I can understand her feeling that way. And she gave me good marriage advice as well. She said "Never fight! There are times when I was about ready to hit him, but thank goodness he left the room before I could!" When she said goodbye for the last time she had tears in her eyes, as if she had known me for a long time. It made me feel special and I wished I had gotten to know her better. Those are memories I will keep with me throughout my life.


8 comments :

  1. Anna-

    I read someplace that...all beginnings are hard. But I'm sure you'll make new friends in Chicago. :)

    And you're finding out the joy of having older friends like Jan and Dorothy. They offer perspective on life that your peers just won't be able to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely lovely. Good luck in your move to Chicago. I've lived here for 8 years and I absolutely love it. The winter though...that's another story!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a lovely friendship! My husband and I are friends with a woman in her 80's who grew up and lived in NYC for a very long time, until retiring here to Florida. Her pottery studio is next door to my house. She is an amazing woman and I could talk to her for hours on end.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a picturesque place! <3 The wooden building is so darling!

    x
    Lost in the Haze

    ReplyDelete
  5. Around which neighborhood will you be staying at?

    How exciting!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Welcome to Chicago! Let me know if you have any questions on cool spots around the city. xo

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am personally so sad you left that gorgeous and strange little place. It's so funny to me, because I just moved from Chicago (Evanston, in fact!) to a rural small town in Maine...so I feel like we're doing the reverse move (and at reverse places in our lives, in some ways--I've been married awhile and have two little kids). Would love to be in touch and talk about it all (and maybe put you in touch with some fine folks in Chicago).

    ReplyDelete
  8. These pictures are beautiful. I'd love to go there.

    ReplyDelete