My daughter, that is. She moved to South Dakota to make a difference in the lives of school children on the Rosebud Indian Reservation right after college. After three years she continued that journey and calling in New Orleans, at a higher level in her organization. Now three years after that, she is finally home, or close to it, in Milwaukee, having moved up again. I am beyond overjoyed to be able to see her more that 2-4 times a year for the first time in wayyyyy too long. I can hop on the bus and be there in an hour, or she can drive here in the same amount of time. I visited her new home there for the first time this past weekend, and I love it. We had a great Memorial Day weekend, visiting places we frequented years ago when she was a baby and small child and I was a young single mom who just needed to get out of town and see new faces and places every other month or so. A favorite destination was the Grand Avenue Mall, which was quite the cutting edge place to be among malls back then. Glass elevators in the central courtyard, glass ceiling, and a huge food court were among its novel innovations of that time. Food courts weren't yet a "thing" found in every mall. I looked forward to the exotic (to me, at the time) Greek food at a place called Grecian Garden. I would get the lemon chicken and garlicky orzo soup...heavenly.
Unfortunately, the mall has fallen onto hard times now. There are barely any businesses left, and the glass ceiling, once so grand, leaks badly, crumbling the pillars and flying buttresses supporting it. Still beautiful, though, and I hope it comes back to its former glory in time. It's a real downtown treasure.
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