Local news covering the Oldtown area
Greetings from your new Oldtown columnist! If you don’t know me personally, you may recognize my family as “the red-haired family” that frequently takes evening walks around Oldtown. My own hair is blonde, but my husband and three of our four children are redheads, so we’re pretty easy to spot from a distance (except for the one time we visited Ireland).
Some background: I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, but when I was 16, our family moved to Jackson, Tennessee. After completing an associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education, I attended Asbury University in Kentucky, and majored in Secondary Education in English. At Asbury, a handsome red-haired student from Rome, Georgia, caught my eye. Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested in me, but we did become friends. More on him later.
After college, I taught high school English in Tennessee for five years, then followed my dream of teaching overseas. The American Community School of Athens offered me a job, and thus began the lengthy process of procuring a work visa—a process which required a trip to the Greek Consulate in Atlanta. On the drive to Atlanta, I passed a sign for Rome, which reminded me of my handsome red-haired friend, Benjamin. I wrote him a quick email, asking how life was going and explaining why I was driving past a sign for his hometown. Benjamin wrote back immediately. He was then living in Laurel, studying for a doctorate at the Catholic University of America. We resumed a lively written correspondence, and before I left for Greece, Benjamin asked to visit me.
Fast forward through two years of a long-distance relationship (me in Athens, Benjamin in Laurel), and we tied the knot in August 2015. Benjamin moved out of Laurel and joined me in Athens. Nine months later, our daughter Monica was born—the only red-haired baby in the Greek hospital. Prior to her birth, Monica was diagnosed with rhombencephalosynapsis–a rare brain malformation that affects about 250 people in the world. When she was two, Monica was diagnosed with another rare disease: erythromelalgia—a neurovascular disorder that causes episodes of painful red swelling in her limbs.
In October 2018, we moved from Athens to Laurel. We bought a house in Oldtown, and Benjamin began full-time work for ICEL (the International Commission on English in the Liturgy), based in Washington, DC. We loved that Benjamin could scooter to the train station for work.
In March of 2019, I gave birth to our second child, Charles Shaw Lewis (yes, we named our kid C.S. Lewis), who made a dramatic and premature entrance into the world. He’s been dramatic ever since and also sports the distinctive red hair.
Not to be outdone by the women who gave birth to one pandemic baby, I birthed two pandemic babies: Genevieve in 2021 and then Peter in 2022. The latter was born while I actually had Covid. I can assure you that double-masking while breathing through contractions was not nearly as fun as it sounds. Between the birth of Genevieve and Peter, we moved from one end of Oldtown to the other. Now we’re even closer to the charming Laurel train station!
While I am not from Laurel, I love living here. In some ways, Oldtown reminds me of Athens. The sidewalks and front porches make for more social interactions than the typical American suburb. Our neighbors are friendly and welcoming, especially to our daughter Monica with her special needs. The houses are brimming with character and stories.
If you have a story to tell about Oldtown or the people who live here, please contact me at oldtownvoices@gmail.com. I would love to share your story with the rest of the community.
But enough about me. Here’s a snippet of Oldtown news:
On the second of May, the Laurel Farmer’s Market started up again in the Quill Lot on Main Street. The market will now be held from 3:00-7:00 pm every Thursday (except July 4th) through September 26th. On opening day, some of the vendors included The Garden International LLC, Millie Farms, and the Zahradka Family Farm.
[Source: City of Laurel Green Living]
Caitlin Lewis holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Covenant College. She worked as a high school English teacher both in the U.S. and Greece, but currently works at home raising her four children and writing her column.
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