Trip to Norway and Sweden

I recently returned home from a marvelous trip to Sweden and Norway with my two older brothers and my brother’s wife. The main purpose of the trip was to visit our grandparent’s  homeland and retrace our roots in both Sweden and Norway.  Our grandparents came from two different regions of  Sweden and met and married in Chicago, Illinois in 1907. My grandfather and great grandfather came to this country and left behind three siblings a mother, wife and grandparents.  My grandmother left 7 siblings along with her parents and grandparents. This meant we had an opportunity to meet relatives we had never met before and in some cases didn’t even know existed. They took us into their homes and even gave up their  bedrooms  so we could have a place to sleep. We stayed up to the wee hours of the night looking at old pictures, laughing and asking questions,  working hard to put  the puzzle together and fill in the void spaces of our lives.  It is hard to put into words the profound impact this trip has had on me. It was an extraordinary experience and one that has changed my life forever.

http//www.americanwest.com/swedemigr/pages/emigra.htm

View of my cousins and brothers looking at the farm house our grandparents grew up in Sweden.