E is For Elgin (Place)

Today I want to tell you quickly how my associations with the city of Elgin , Illinois have changed in the almost 40 years I have been travelling there.

It started when I needed braces when I was kid.  My orthodontist was in a town some 30 minutes away from where I lived called Elgin.  I didn't have any relatives in that town and to the best of my knowledge I had never visited it.  My orthodontist was in the tower building which is now on the national registry of historic buildings.

Tower Building, Elgin, Illinois.

After my adventures in orthodontia were over, I visited Elgin all of 3 times from the early eighties to 1997.  These were for 1) a lunch date with a Judson student, 2) A wedding (The reception was in the Laird Funeral Home of all places), and a camp reunion.

Then in 1997, I moved from South Carolina back to Illinois to court Amy.  I got a temp to perm job in Elgin and was there from July to October.  Shortly after that I got a job at a mortgage company and was there for almost 10 years.  While I was there I was given a 6 week assignment at one of our other facilities in Elgin.

In 2001,  We move to our current house which is between 10 and 15 minutes from Elgin.  We began to do more regular things there.  We visited churches, we visited their  library, our pediatrician's office was there.  But it wasn't until the past 5 or 6 years that we have become Elginated.  These days, I work in Elgin, our home school co-op meets in Elgin, we go to church in Elgin.  Last week I was at Elgin every day for work and then drove back there after dinner for the Imago film fest at Judson.  I spend more waking hours a week in Elgin than I do in my home town.  In a few weeks I will begin to spend more time on the bike paths and many of those are in Elgin.  

One thing we have not done is frequent restaurants in Elgin especially in the down town as they mostly open during business hours.  Elgin has a blue box cafe which has a Dr. Who motif that I want to take the kids too sometime soon.  

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