Tagged: famdamily

10
May
2017

THERE! THAT OUGHT TO HOLD YA

Gah. Time goes by too quickly. I think about writing all the time, but then I sit down to do something simple and my arm shoots pain and I give up and don’t stay here long enough to write anything. I suspect this is what aging is going to be about for me: falling apart, pain and doctor appointments. And who wants to read about that? NOT ME. Anyway, we bought our tickets to the US for the summer, or for at least 3 very expensive weeks of it. For Karin’s and my round-trip tickets and Martin’s 1-way ticket, it...

18
Feb
2017

AND SO I WAKE IN THE MORNING AND I STEP OUTSIDE

My daughter just commented on the fact that the very nice, expensive, wide (genuine) leather belt that she appropriated from me is a “really good child-beater belt”. For the record, she has never been beaten with a belt or anything else. Tempting. But no. So many things that I mean to write about, to remember to write about, to record for your amusement and for posterity*, and yet, the time goes and there is another huge hole in the calendar of my journal. I have a package to mail. I have a letter to respond to. I have pants to...

31
Dec
2016

RETROSPECTIVE

he last day of 2016, hurrah! Normally, I would be a bit sad about the end of the year, but I am really hoping that, despite the orange-frosted muffin going into office in my native country, things will get better *pastes bright smile into place* instead of getting worse. After all, things are going well for me and my family, so despite the debacle of the US election, and the loss of so many people I admired: Gene Wilder, Carrie Fisher, Alan Rickman, David Bowie, Harper Lee, Richard Adams, George Michael, Anton Yelchin, Prince,…(oof) among many many others, I am...

25
Dec
2016

HO HO HO

I actually had to roust both kids out of bed today at 10 a.m. with Christmas carols on full blast, since there was no sign of either one of them moving, despite Karin’s threats last night to wake us up at six a.m. HA. Teenagers are lame. It rained all day today…super boring weather for Christmas except for the fact that water drops hanging from the honeysuckle creepers looked like diamonds. Two days ago was my mother-in-law’s birthday; she turned 88. She had a knee replacement operation a few weeks ago but is home and recovering well, despite still having...

24
Dec
2016

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER

Every year I am amazed again at how fast 365 days can pass. Here it is, the end of 2016 and Christmas is upon us once again! We’ve had a busy year with many celebrations in it and lots of traveling. There were some major milestones, and some big birthdays as well. Anders has had a great year of mountain-biking, participating in a series of X Cup tournaments as well as doing the Cyckel Vasa for the first time, which is a race on the same track that the Vasaloppet Ski Race takes place on. His job has taken him...

19
Nov
2016

ALIVE AND WELL, WELL, AS WELL AS CAN BE, CONSIDERING

I’ve only posted twice this month so far, and to be honest, I haven’t had the heart or the energy to post much more. I read the news every day and fall a little farther into disbelief and despair each time. Anders came home late last night from 2 weeks in Italy for work. He worked today, came home, declared he didn’t feel well, at which point all three of us promptly fell asleep on various sofas, and then he got violently ill. Then he told me he was freezing and went to bed. Not good. I really, really hope...

19
Sep
2016

THINGS I FORGOT TO WRITE ABOUT

Twice recently I drove home in the evening and marveled at the full moon. It was huge and silver and beautiful. When I got out and parked the car, I went into the back yard, where the streetlights aren’t so bright and stared up at the sky. Black and clear and spangled with stars and that huge glowing moon hanging over the side of the sky. We’re supposed to be getting our election ballots by the end of this week. If you are American and reading this, you had better be voting. If you are American and living overseas, it’s...

13
Aug
2016

WISH YOU WERE HERE

When you live this far apart from your loved ones, time together is never long enough, even when some days together it feels like it. I would like another couple of weeks together just to RELAX, without plans, without parties, without anything but time to sit together, talk more deeply about our lives, get to know my niece and nephews better, give my children more time with their grandma, their uncle, their aunt, their cousins. Time to do all the family things together that we so rarely get to do with each other: play games, go shopping, eat meals, hang...

10
Aug
2016

FILLING THE YEAR

In Sweden, the phrase for having a birthday is “fyller år” which literally means “filling the year”. In Swedish, you don’t turn 100, you fill it. The word birthday is the same in both languages; födelsedagen. In my family, we have a pile of birthdays in March (Sarah, John, Simone, Bryce) and a pile in the summer, mostly in July with mine lagging in early August (my grandmother, my mom and dad (same day), me, Sammy, Karin) and another group in December (Danely, Martin, Jakob). My sister’s husband Tom, and Anders, are the odd men out, with birthdays in January...

09
Aug
2016

FUN WITH FAMILY

When I proposed having a party this summer to celebrate all the big events & milestones in our family, it never occurred to me how it might snowball. I persuaded my mom to let me invite the entire family, never suspecting that so many of them might actually come. I thought it would be like my plans for my 50th birthday trip with my friend Russell: all our family and friends would come…when in reality not even my brother could make it (we had a great time regardless). And we had a LOT to celebrate this year: big birthdays, graduations,...

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