I'm So Dutch and I Have the Pictures to Prove It

I have been to the small town of Volendam (Netherlands) three times and every time I've had my picture taken in Dutch costume. It's a fun memory, dressing up in Dutch costumes and getting the pics done, usually in a hurry, and away we go. Years later it's fun to look back and remember the trips by the photos taken.

The first time I was there was 1974. I was 16 and my brother John was 21. We were trying to ditch our parents at the time and do a little travelling on our own, you know, because we were all grown up. We got our picture taken in Volendam for the first time. John's hair was longer than mine 'cause he was still in the hippie stage. He had the VW bus to go along with it, only thing was he never did the drugs that went along with the lifestyle. He just always had the look.

Then when I was in Bible College in Hawaii my friends Brian and Linda and I signed up to work in a church planting team in Belgium for the summer of 1981. Afterwards we went to Holland for a week, mooched off my relatives and did some travelling of our own and once again, landed in Volendam.


In 2004 my mom and John, Chris and I went to Holland for a cousin reunion and Chris and I did some travelling on our own and went to Volendam. Back to the same photo shop and here we are, huffing and puffing, squeezing ourselves into costumes. They didn't seem so tight before.