"isn't that just 10 dollars?!"

I begin this post with a quote mom must have said at least 15 times while she was visiting me in Sweden, and this is just one example of the many things we giggled over during the big VISIT. I realize i'm writing this note too long after the event, and now it feels like old news. I always do that. As I walk along the street I come up with a great little piece of writing in my head, a nice combination of words, a philosophical thought that passes through my mind, thinking i'll go straight to the computer when I get home and jot it down for the blog world to read, but then i forget to, and the thought leaves me, and whatever brilliant thing that was there is now gone and I feel i have nothing to report.

well anyway, here i am now. it's better than nothing. So....3 (or was it 4?) weeks ago my beloved mother and sister visited me, came all the way to Sweden to see me and my Swedish life. I felt really loved and special the whole 8 days they were here, just thinking of the effort it took them to make it to my little house. I found mom at the airport, head down on the cafe table, worn out like a child from the flight. We then strolled around for a few hours, awkwardly pushing mom's 2 huge suitcases through the touristy airport stores as we waited for Becca, whose flight from NY landed 4 hours later than mom's from charlotte.

How can i quickly summarize the visit?
Awful weather.
But good spirits.
Long walks in the green, mossy, evergreen forest.
Laughing at mom and Alexander playing together as she spoke English to him and he responded in Swedish, and they got along beautifully. Even when mom said "ja!" in affirmation as he said "Jag har en ont här." (I have a boo-boo here)
Becca's papper and stubby pencil kept in her pocket to write down "all the Swedish words i know"
Oohs and ahhs over cute red houses.
Mmms and yumms over hot strong coffee and tasty cafe treats.
Window shopping at the expensive stores.
Buying fun foreign cheap things at the 2nd hand stores.
Splurging on the purchase of beautiful yarn.
Getting knitting help and inspiration from Becca.
Laughing like loud americans on the city streets.
Giggling at night in my tiny room.
Meeting a small organic farmer in the middle of nowhere.
He had a wooden bowl filled with fresh brown eggs in his farm store.
Delicious dinners hosted by wonderful friends and "family" here.
Semlor!
A visit to the Carl Larsson home where we feasted our eyes on an artist's work who adored his family and home and made it beautiful.
Biking everywhere.
Through the forest.
Lingering in the grocery store and wishing america had a better cheese and yogurt selection.
Calculating the currency conversion constantly and in the end deciding we should compare every purchase to our 60 kr. kebab because, if a kebab is only 60 kr then shouldn't we buy this (shirt, yarn, candle holder, etc) since it's only (100, 200, etc) kronor?
Me remembering that I have the most gracious and wonderful mom and sister ever.

and so much more!!


Now i'm busy growing little plants for the community garden plot Erik and I have just aquired, learning to play the fiddle, planning our summer trip to farms in Italy, trying to plan next year, making new friends, and training for a half marathon in May! yikes.

anticipation

I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning. I will wake up, feel excitement in my belly, eat a quick breakfast, put on something cute, and drive to the airport. There i will find my mamma, sitting at an airport cafe (having arrived very early) and we will be reunited, mother and daughter, friends together again. I will bring her breakfast and we will sit with her big black bags until we are reunited with our dearest, darling, we-miss-her-so-much sister and daughter BECCA who is arriving around noon. I feel already that this trip will be so encouraging for all 3 of us. And that it will be for lack of a better way to put it...a woman's trip...a time for being with women, giggling as women, talking as women, appreciating everything as women. Often I think all three of us wish we were like some families who settle near each other, who visit often , who can drive over for a weekend or come by for a sunday lunch after church. But we're not...somehow Becca ended up in Minnesota and now NY, I met someone from Sweden and have followed him here...and we find ourselves in different corners of the world instead of different parts of a state or city. But this is us. This is the life God has led us to. And it means we communicate a lot on the phone and through emails, and we have these visits which are not so frequent but when they happen are a whirlwind of fun and excitement.

Today there is much to do....final planning, fixing bikes for use next week, mopping kitchen floors and finishing building my cold frames so my garden doesn't look like a construction site! The first flower opened up outside my door yesterday, just in time, and it's as if it knew someone special was arriving. :) It's small and yellow and perfect. I love spring. The picture above is flowers from Becca's farm at mid-summer, when flowers have their time of glory. I can only stare at that now and think...does that really happen? do these little plants really burst with color and out of a tiny seed become something so amazing with such detailed beauty? in the winter things seem hopelessly dead, beyond revival, but i know that soon there will be renewal. ressurection.