Sunday 15 September 2013

Family, Extended or Otherwise


My family is not very big. My mother has one brother and my father has one brother, which means I have two uncles, each with one wife and three kids, which equals six cousins in total. My grandparents each have large families, but with all the traveling I do I have never met most of them and see them once every few years at some family reunion. My mother's mother, my mormor, is closest to her sister Marine, who has a husband and two children (my mother's cousins), who are actually closer in age to me than to my mother.

One of the things I admire most about my mamma is her gift for hospitality--she knows full well how hard it is to keep up family relations from afar, and she is one of the few to take the time to arrange events and send out invitations and gather uncles and aunts and nieces and nephews and cousins and grandparents from all corners of Norrland. This summer a smaller portion of us gathered for a family hiking trip to an observation tower.

My pappa and Aunt Helle leading the way, followed closely by my dear cousin

Cousin Amelia photobombing

We spot sweet, cold blueberries on the way up. Autumn is coming.

This little trip means a lot to Mormor. From the top of the observation tower, I looked out and saw her childhood home, a little yellow house by the river.

And when I looked down I saw sisterly love. 

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