A Feeling of Family

The crew (Mere, Grandma, Aunt Annette and me) left the Dungeon bright and early yesterday morning to make our way to Alingsas. We treated ourselves to some good Swedish pastries before hopping on the train, and we arrived at the Alingsas station at 9:30, greeted by my grandmother's cousin, Stig. Upon arrival at Anders's house, we met his daughter, Kerstin, who lives in Malmo in the south of Sweden. We all sat around looking at pictures from various family reunions, and it was very neat to hear the stories about the people and the trips. Grandma has hosted Swedish relatives quite often, and I learned this is her fourth trip to Sweden. After this, Kerstin led the girls on a walk around the lake near the house while the boys prepped lunch. The lake was so calm, and the walk was just perfect. We were lucky and it was a sunny, but cool, day. Grandma joked about buying a house by the lake and moving to Sweden, (although I think she was partially considering it...)

When we got back to the house for lunch around 12:30, Lina from Pixbo had arrived. I had met her earlier when I first spent time with Anders. Her daughter, Julia, was up north so unfortunately we were not able to see her again. About 15 minutes later, another family arrived for the family reunion. It was Hans from Boras (about 30 km away), his wife Anna-Karin and their 11 (?) year old son, Nils. Hans is the son of Anders's brother, I believe. The family was so friendly, and I greatly enjoyed talking to everyone. People were all eager to take photos of the group, and I was particularly struck when Hans took a picture of Meredith and me, saying "I'm taking a picture of my new family." Today, Anders remarked on this very awesome phenomenon in which family openly welcomes and accepts anyone who is related, no questions asked. Mere, Grandma and Aunt Annette got to experience this on their drive to Skovde when they stopped with Stig to visit other relatives, and they said that everyone was so gracious and hospitable. People are willing to do so much for strangers who are family. I responded that this feeling is one that applies to teams as well, since I feel the same way with my Harvard Softball family--if I meet an alum, I feel an instant bond. This feeling now applies to my Swedish family as well. Hans asked Meredith and me later if we feel a pull toward Sweden, and I replied that I absolutely do. I grew up learning about Swedish traditions, and I do feel a little bit at home here.

After the introductions and some talking, it was lunch time. Smoked eel, marinated pork, potatoes and veggies, cucumbers with dill, scrambled eggs (I think Anders made these for me since I said I like them), and bacon. I tried the eel--not bad. For dessert, of course we had rhubarb. What else? Anders even made me a whole bowl, (see picture below), as a "present." I had also brought chocolate balls, and those were a big hit. The time seemed to fly by but in a relaxing way as we dined out on the back patio in the pleasant weather. It was such a wonderful afternoon.

Hans and his family left around 3:00 and we all stayed a little longer outside. Grandma and Aunt Annette left to spend the night in Pixbo at Lina's house, and Meredith and I stayed with Anders and Stig. Apparently Anders is quite the dancer and dances once a week, so Grandma told him he had to teach me how to dance. He put on some music and tried teaching me some steps, but I ended up quite dizzy. He then got out the croquet set for the four of us to play a game. Grandma had mentioned that they played last time she was there to visit but that it didn't go so well. (Sounds like the Swedish version of the Croquet Incident of 2008, Mom and Dad). I had been trained in croquet in England two years before, and I had a great match, taking the gold medal. Stig finished second, Anders third, and Mere was deemed "first loser." The quartet ventured into the cottage to seek shelter from the rain, and we sat around the table just chatting. We turned on the news and watched a ceremony in commemoration of the tragedy that happened in Norway last year. After this, Anders made us all Swedish pancakes for dinner--sooooooo good! We did a jam taste test with lingonberry, blueberry, and cloudberry jams. I liked the cloud berry jam the best I think.

Mere and I called it a night after learning about the Royal Family from Stig, and we fell asleep pretty fast. It was so fun to meet the relatives and enjoy the great weather.