All of the sudden, we rounded the corner, and out of the whole country, we found what I think are the two places in Holland that haven’t changed in the last 15 years. We spent the bulk of my childhood in the Netherlands in two small houses. The neighborhoods around those two houses have remained the same, down to the very paint colors on the garages.
Where I had been sad and worried that my childhood years had been lost in fuzzy memories of places that no longer existed, returned a flood of vivid memories, and I can’t tell you how happy it made me.
I learned to ice skate on this canal.
I learned to fish from this bridge.
Our first home in Holland. I learned to ride my bike on this little sidewalk.
Typical Dutch weather.
Every day, regardless of weather, we would play soccer on this field, using the tree as the right goal post.
A view of our second neighborhood. Even the garages are painted the same still. My best friend lived in the house with the brown and red garage.
The playground in the middle of the neighborhood.
And finally, this is the house where I spent the bulk of my childhood. My room was on the top floor where you can see the window.