The Face of Family
In 2013 my sister, brother-in-law and I took my Mom to Norway. Mom is a full blooded Norwegian who’d never set foot in her homeland. She wanted to see it for herself. She was 85 at the time. It was a wonderful adventure. We explored Oslo. We took a train ride into the mountains. We took a long ferry ride on the fjords. We ate local treats from salmon and lefsa. It was the trip of a life time, but not for the reason you might imagine. My sister and mom and I all had a heart response to Norway.
For me it started when I listened to the flight attendants giving flight information in Norwegian. I didn’t understand a word yet it sounded comforting and familiar. I figured that’s just because they sounded like my mom’s mom Mabel who kept her sing-song accent her entire life. I used to giggle when she said “scissors” with no “z” sound, only lots of “s-es.” The familiar feeling increased when we landed and began walking around Oslo. I’d look into the faces of locals and swear I knew them. Finally when we drove through the country side and sailed on the fjords I felt such a sense of peace and of being at home. I figured that too was just beautiful scenery. Who won’t feel warmed by it?
All very lovely and wonderful. Norway is cool. Yet for me it was more. I felt a pull of belonging. I think what I experienced was the pull of family. It was as if DNA was reaching out to DNA. I felt loved and held by a country and people that were my own. My mom’s family is not blond-haired and blue-eyed. Nope, mom’s family is dark-haired and short. No one would peg us for Norwegian, though to be fair there are lots of Norwegians who don’t fit the stereo type.
I told my mom and sister what I was feeling, a real connection to Norway. They had sensed it too. We laughed and smiled over finding new family. We each felt like we were looking into the eyes of the familiar though we’d never met. We’d come home and felt an embrace. That was nearly a decade ago and I still think about my “relations” across the sea. Funny thing, that feeling of belonging extends to the human family. I sometimes look into the face of “strangers” here in my own land and feel the connection of love.