Tagged: famdamily

28
Dec
2018

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2018

The beginning of 2018 was pretty calm and we hosted a New Year’s Eve dinner with friends here in Flyinge. Liz was recovering from gall bladder removal surgery, so she was taking it pretty easy. Anders went skiing again with colleagues, now an annual tradition. Martin returned to college in Detroit for the second half of his freahman year, even though his flight was cancelled and rerouted, and he ended up getting to spend a couple of nights with Liz’s sister in Connecticut. Karin and Liz participated in a gospel fest choir festival together, Karin’s first big choir event. In...

26
Nov
2018

IT’S BEGINNING TO NOM NOM NOM

Our Thanksgiving dinner guests arrive at 5 pm and we’re sitting down to eat around 5:30…and by 9 pm some of them are already getting ready to leave: a dog at home that needs to be let out, kids that have activities early Sunday morning, two that were fighting colds and needed to head to bed. By 9:30 it was just my two best friends and two husbands (mine included) that moved our bloated turkey bellies to the living room and sprawled on the sofas. It was nice to have an extra hour with just a couple of people to...

23
Nov
2018

GATHERING, GIVING AND THANKING

The whole house smells delicious. Anders is taking turkey 1 out of the oven right now. Tomorrow he’ll cook turkeys 2 & 3 in the final preparation for our annual Thanksgiving (or Friendsgiving as everyone refers to it nowadays) potluck dinner. It’s our 20th anniversary of having Friendsgiving with our best friends. 20 years! Some of them are the same friends that came to the first one. Some of them have joined along the way, and some are fairly new to the celebration. As we have done every year, Anders and I provide the turkey(s), mashed potatoes, stuffing (in the...

21
Oct
2018

FALL FRENZY

The fall frenzy has started…each week has more things scheduled than the one before and I’m not even in choir this year. On Friday I went with two colleagues and another friend to the sing-along showing of Hair at Spegeln in downtown Malmö. It’s the second sing-along I’ve been to there, and it was just as fun, though a different feeling since it is such a different movie. I love Hair…it’s one of my all-time favorite musicals. I grew up listening to the soundtrack from the play because my dad loved musicals, too. I knew every word to every song...

10
Oct
2018

GOOD THINGS, DESPITE EVERYTHING

So much of everything lately makes me roll my eyes or grit my teeth. I seem to be seething, constantly. Like so many others, I am horrified and frightened and angry as all hell by the news, by the news, by the unending, ungodly, unbelievable news, that you keep thinking can’t get worse, but then it DOES, but I feel mute. As if what I say doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change anything, even when I know that’s not true. There are so many things stuffing up my brain that nothing can get out, despite all the pushing. I don’t...

04
Sep
2018

THIS IS THE LIFE

Tonight, Karin drove to the bus stop in Gårdstånga, and I was glad I was just along for the ride, because it meant that I could concentrate on staring at the GIGANTIC FIERY RED sun that was just about to descend below the horizon. We could only see the top of it above the trees, but it was seriously HUGE. Then as I turned the car around, after we switched places, we saw two hot-air balloons out over Odarslöv and one of them was as big as the sun. Weird what atmospherics can do. She had a nice week in...

09
Jul
2018

DISTANCE MEANS SO LITTLE WHEN SOMEONE MEANS SO MUCH*

There’s a special feeling to being alone after weeks of being social. I feel like I’ve been on a whirlwind the past two and a half months. A good whirlwind, but a whirlwind nonetheless, what with Karin’s graduation, family visiting, friends visiting, and a seemingly unending round of parties and get-togethers. Now, the house is quiet and empty, and clean, and I am rather enjoying it. It’s funny how you don’t want things to change, and yet they do, and when they do, you can either rail against it or just enjoy the moment. I’ve had so many moments to...

26
Jun
2018

SCHOOL’S OUT!

Two down! At least, two high school graduations down. Karin had a fantastic day, starting with a champagne breakfast at the school and day full of activities until their “run-out” at nearly 4. I had thought Martin’s school yard was big and crowded, but I wasn’t at ALL prepared for how many people were crowded into the open areas of Karin’s school. Nearly 1000 students graduated and ALL their families and friends seemed to be there, with signs and balloons and plush necklaces and champagne bottles and big smiles. We parked at Karin’s girlfriend’s house and walked over to the...

24
Jun
2018

TOGETHER TIME

How do you live so far away from family? It’s not a question I get that often, because I’ve been here for so long and I’m part of an expat community who have ALL moved far away from home and family. Most of the time, you just don’t think about it. You live your life, you go to work, you clean your house, and make dinner, but you don’t think about the fact that you only see your mom once a year and your brother maybe that, and your sister less than that, and your uncles and cousins and grandmother...

19
Apr
2018

SUDDENLY SUMMER

Suddenly, it’s summer. Weeks of winter teasing, will she won’t she and now BAM, heat wave! Sha na na na na na—we’re surfing on sunshine. Everything has exploded and with it, my head. I went directly from horrible head cold to allergy attack of the ages. Today I thought I’d have to rip my eyes out. Visine and all the other eye drop bottles only hold it temporarily at bay. Nose sprays, allergy meds, COME ON, give me a break. I went from sick misery to allergy misery and honestly I’m not sure which is worse. But the sky is...

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