In 1963, while homevisiting from Okinawa, Ad and I rented a car to explore lower Michigan. The crowning point of our tour took us to the city of Holland, Michigan. This little city was very proud of its original Dutch founders and celebrated every year with a grand Tulip Festival.

We stayed at a sweet motel which had a large windmill in front of it. When the motel owner learned that my husband was a true Hollander, he arranged for us to be welcome in his club. When we arrived at the club after our dinner, we found the club full of local people who were eager to meet Adrian and speak Dutch with him. The motel owner had called all his friends who still spoke Dutch so they could come and meet Ad.

They were all so hospitable and friendly, we had a lovely time although I must admit that I was on the sidelines as everyone hovered around Ad.

Later, in our room, Ad said it was an amazing experience, in that he was listening to archaic Dutch as it must have been spoken one or two hundred years ago.

You see, all languages evolve over time, and when the ancestors of these kind people departed Holland for the new lands overseas, their language was forever frozen and never changed with the times.

Should anyone from Holland visit the US, you may be interested in visiting your namesake city in Michigan.