CGM Photography

While Ginny and I were in Chicago for our friends’ wedding event, we decided to take a side trip to see Ft. Sheridan, one of the many places Ginny lived as a child when her dad Larry Bess served in the military (Mr. Bess retired as a Major after 20 years in the service). Ft. Sheridan was one of the military bases that Clinton’s administration closed in the 90s. Ginny’s family lived at the army base during some of Ginny’s elementary and junior high years. The base was eventually given to the county who poured money into developing the land.

We arrived at the fort in the early afternoon. As we entered one side of the base, Ginny immediately recognized a tower and some of the homes that are still standing. She especially remembered a birthday party she attended at one of the Colonel’s homes. Some of these homes were renovated or added on to, but they were very much the way Ginny remembered them. She was a little emotional and nostalgic seeing some of the places of her childhood memories.

We couldn’t find the neighborhood Ginny lived in, as they had the road we believed led to it gated off. The golf course she remembered has been converted into a forest preserve, but we were able to see some of the deep ravines Ginny, her brother, and the rest of her family climbed in to find golf balls that the kids resold once they cleaned them up. Ginny said that she spent many hours with her brother climbing in those ravines. The fort had changed a lot since Ginny was a child, but she thought it was still as beautiful as she remembered, and I could tell it held a lot of meaning to her.