Family Reunions

I am writing this as I wait for my pictures to download. It's very late and we're in Soderhamn, Sweden on our way back down from visiting my Swedish cousins in Ostersund (up north). It was a time for family get togethers and visiting our history and roots. There was a caravan of us that set out for Hunge (a small village in Sweden) where my Grandpa came from. There is an old flour mill there that was run for many many years by my Grandpa's father. We all heard stories from my Grandpa about the place where he grew up and many from our family have made the pilgrimage to the flour mill. It is absolutely idyllic there now. However, when my Grandpa used to describe it he remembered the hard work that he had to do every day as a very young boy. It obviously made an impression on him because he always had stories to tell us from his youth there. Everything in the mill is still as it was and during the summer they still make flour there and people are lined up to buy the fresh milled flour. When we went into the mill, they still had the books there from in the early 30's that had each customer's name with how much flour they had bought and how much they owed. Everyone that has come there (from our family) has written their names in the posts on the inside walls. It was very cool to see my Granpa's name, uncle's, aunt's, cousins and many other family members that we just met today!

It's so great to get connected with family, some that we know well and others that we are just meeting for the first time. It's hard to say goodbye tho. As Aidan said today, "you just get comfortable and get to know them and then it's time to move on again." It was very sad to say goodbye to our cousins in Ope/Ostersund. I want to go back and live there for awhile and learn Swedish. It was a beautiful little city and I felt so comfortable and at home. It looks like we will take a bit of Sweden with us as the kids have decided that our new house should be painted 'Falu red'. It's the colour of most of the houses in Sweden. It's not a rust colour and not a red colour...but it's a very Swedish colour. I guess that will feel like we're bringing a bit of Sweden to our own little corner of Canada and keeping our family roots alive. Love to all my family out there...new and old! Time to go to bed as we've got another long drive ahead of us tomorrow as we make our way back down to the south of Sweden and get ready for the next leg of our journey.