From London, Scott and I traveled to the Leiden area in the Netherlands. This was a special trip for the two of us because this was one of the places Scott lived as a child. The museum where he was scheduled to do his research was the museum his mother used to take him to often. It was significant for me to watch him return to this museum as a grown man with his own questions to answer in the scientific world. It meant a lot to me witness such a milestone in his life and in his career. I am so proud of him!
We arrived on Saturday which meant we had all of Sunday to chill (after having a little Scott and Tressa church of course). The bus system was great there, so we just hopped on one and visited Scott's old house in the nearby community of Wassenaar. It was a rainy afternoon, so technically not ideal for walking around, but it was a soft rain -- the kind that makes everything look greener. The houses were quaint and neat with colorful shutters, and beautiful flower gardens. They looked like they came right out of a post card.Soon we were able to find Scott's old street, Dominee Honderslaan, seen here in the the picture. From there we were able to find his old house, and the park he used to play in. Next to the park there is also a pond where Scott had an incident involving frogs, a bike, and a rusty nail. Scott is pictured on the left next to the infamous pond. Check out Scott's blog if you want to know the story (scottmaddux.blogspot.com), it's one of our favorites! We laughed at old stories and memories.
Scott marveled at how so much hadn't changed, but at the same time looked so different simply because he was now grown.We walked around the neighborhood some more, and unbelievably Scott was able to walk us right to the old pancake house he used to eat at! We stopped here and had some delicious lunch. Scott said it was just as good as he remembered it. We then continued our exploration of Scott's childhood by walking into the main part of town where we found Scott's favorite pastry shop (unfortunately it was not open), toy store, and the big windmill. We also stopped for a little "pick-me-up" of cappuccino and chocolate cake, mmmm...
On Monday, it was once again time for work. Since this was Scott's only day to work at the Naturalis museum in Leiden, I took my trusty "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" book and headed to the museum with Scott (pictured right). There I spent the day reading among shelved and shelves of mammoth fossils in the collection room where Scott was working. We did get out of the collections room some. We had some lunch with the curator and two other American anthropologists that Scott knew, and we also got to check out the museum itself. If you also read Scott's blog then you already know that they have the world's oldest rock, and the first H. erectus discovery (see Scott's blog for details), an amazing mammoth skeleton, and a tiny dwarfed elephant skeleton. For me, one of the highlight was imagining Scott running around reading everything he could and marveling at all the cool new things he was learning.
There is something special to me about being able to see and learn about the places significant to the childhood of those I love. As I develop friendships, and especially close friendships, I find conversations often go back to stories of childhood experiences. I think we tell those stories because those experiences were part of shaping who we are. The foundations of who we all turn out to be are laid in our childhood, so for me to now be able to see a place in my mind where my husband explored, and learned was an intimate experience. The park, the pond, number 11 Dominee Honderslaan, are all part of where my husband learned to be the man he is today, and I feel privileged to have been able to walk down memory lane with him.
On Monday, it was once again time for work. Since this was Scott's only day to work at the Naturalis museum in Leiden, I took my trusty "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" book and headed to the museum with Scott (pictured right). There I spent the day reading among shelved and shelves of mammoth fossils in the collection room where Scott was working. We did get out of the collections room some. We had some lunch with the curator and two other American anthropologists that Scott knew, and we also got to check out the museum itself. If you also read Scott's blog then you already know that they have the world's oldest rock, and the first H. erectus discovery (see Scott's blog for details), an amazing mammoth skeleton, and a tiny dwarfed elephant skeleton. For me, one of the highlight was imagining Scott running around reading everything he could and marveling at all the cool new things he was learning.
There is something special to me about being able to see and learn about the places significant to the childhood of those I love. As I develop friendships, and especially close friendships, I find conversations often go back to stories of childhood experiences. I think we tell those stories because those experiences were part of shaping who we are. The foundations of who we all turn out to be are laid in our childhood, so for me to now be able to see a place in my mind where my husband explored, and learned was an intimate experience. The park, the pond, number 11 Dominee Honderslaan, are all part of where my husband learned to be the man he is today, and I feel privileged to have been able to walk down memory lane with him.
We're back from Panama. Wow, you have been busy. I think you're having the summer of a "lifetime!" How lovely!!
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