Women Today

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with this month's Women cover lady, Ellen Binnema. Ellen and her husband, Dirk, are natives of Holland who own the Planeview Travel Plaza on Highway 41 south of Oshkosh, and it was great to see her enthusiasm when we talked about their life in Wisconsin.

One tidbit of information I didn't have room for in the story was how Dirk and Ellen met. It's a cute story and I'm happy to share it with our blog readers:

Finding pasture and more

When she was 15 and living with her aunt and uncle in Holland, Ellen Binnema wanted to have horses at their farm.

First, however, she needed to find a pasture for them. There was no pastureland on her aunt and uncle’s property, so she had to look elsewhere.

She found the pasture she needed at the farm next door, which was owned by the parents of Dirk Binnema.

After meeting through Ellen’s quest to find pasture for her horses, Dirk and Ellen became friends and eventually began dating.

“It was more off and on because we both traveled. He especially traveled a lot and was gone for a long time,” Ellen says. “But we always stayed in touch with each other. The time that I went to America to visit him, that was when the turning point when we really stuck together.”

Dirk and Ellen were married on June 1, 2007, and live near Oshkosh. To read more about Ellen, see the latest issue of Women magazine at www.mywomenmagazine.com.