Christmas, Swedish-style
We had a lovely Christmas in Malmö this year. We were surrounded by L's kids, a step-daughter, E, and her fiancé and their two children. We stayed with E and her family (L's first wife's daughter). We watched Donald Duck, had the traditional Julbord (Christmas smörgåsbord) and then opened presents. But, I had an extra special Christmas gift this year...
You see, ever since I was able to write letters I have had pen pals all over the world. My first pen pal was from England, Kim. She came to visit me once. There was a boy and a girl from India, a girl from Norway, as well as one from France. But, my favorite and longest lasting was Andy, from Poland. We started corresponding when I was in 8th grade (13 years old) and he was in college. He came to visit me twice, I think. The last time was the spring of 1987, if my memory serves me, right before my first husband bailed. My girls were very little at that time, 1½ and 3 years old. By then, Andy was married and had a son of his own. Anyway, sometime after my divorce we lost touch. I don't remember exactly when it was, but we moved around quite a bit in the years after the girl's father left, and one move was back to Wisconsin in 1993. Then Sweden in 2000. So, somewhere 15-20 years ago we lost each other. I've thought about trying to get a hold of him since I moved here and we are so close geographically. Well, E's fiancé, S, is Polish and he and his mother have lived in Sweden for about 20 years. I'd mentioned to him before that I used to know someone in Poland, but it never went any further than that. Well, S's mother was with us for Christmas Eve. This was the first time that I had met her in the 6 years that I've lived here, although I have known S almost since day one. I had asked S earlier in the day if there were white pages for Poland on the net, if we could look up my old friend. He didn't think so, but would ask his mom when she came. Well, she said that there not any telephone listings on the internet, yet, but she'd be happy to call one of her friends that lived in the town that Andy used to live in and ask her to look him up in the telephone book. So, S's mom got a phone number for someone with my friend's name, but on a different street then I remember and she called it. She spoke to his son. He didn't know if his dad knew anyone by the name of Sandy, but his father did know a few people in the USA. Andy wasn't home right then, but would be in 10 minutes. So, at 5:30pm on Christmas Eve, I spoke to my long lost pen pal, Andy! We exchanged e-mail addresses and I promised to tell him how I ended up in Sweden. He recalled a conversation we'd had 20 years ago about me wanting to come to Europe to visit him. Now it looks like it will happen!
Sandy & L in Sweden
Andy and family in Poland
You see, ever since I was able to write letters I have had pen pals all over the world. My first pen pal was from England, Kim. She came to visit me once. There was a boy and a girl from India, a girl from Norway, as well as one from France. But, my favorite and longest lasting was Andy, from Poland. We started corresponding when I was in 8th grade (13 years old) and he was in college. He came to visit me twice, I think. The last time was the spring of 1987, if my memory serves me, right before my first husband bailed. My girls were very little at that time, 1½ and 3 years old. By then, Andy was married and had a son of his own. Anyway, sometime after my divorce we lost touch. I don't remember exactly when it was, but we moved around quite a bit in the years after the girl's father left, and one move was back to Wisconsin in 1993. Then Sweden in 2000. So, somewhere 15-20 years ago we lost each other. I've thought about trying to get a hold of him since I moved here and we are so close geographically. Well, E's fiancé, S, is Polish and he and his mother have lived in Sweden for about 20 years. I'd mentioned to him before that I used to know someone in Poland, but it never went any further than that. Well, S's mother was with us for Christmas Eve. This was the first time that I had met her in the 6 years that I've lived here, although I have known S almost since day one. I had asked S earlier in the day if there were white pages for Poland on the net, if we could look up my old friend. He didn't think so, but would ask his mom when she came. Well, she said that there not any telephone listings on the internet, yet, but she'd be happy to call one of her friends that lived in the town that Andy used to live in and ask her to look him up in the telephone book. So, S's mom got a phone number for someone with my friend's name, but on a different street then I remember and she called it. She spoke to his son. He didn't know if his dad knew anyone by the name of Sandy, but his father did know a few people in the USA. Andy wasn't home right then, but would be in 10 minutes. So, at 5:30pm on Christmas Eve, I spoke to my long lost pen pal, Andy! We exchanged e-mail addresses and I promised to tell him how I ended up in Sweden. He recalled a conversation we'd had 20 years ago about me wanting to come to Europe to visit him. Now it looks like it will happen!
Sandy & L in Sweden
Andy and family in Poland