In less than two weeks, I will have a new brother-in-law. Until the ceremony, he is in California. I have finished a video of the couple from our one day together in Chicago earlier this Summer. Since I cannot show him in person, everyone gets to see it.
Happy birthday, Josh. I am looking forward to finally having a brother, even if I never imagined he would be so much older than me. Enjoy this small gift, though I may also have to get you one of those “old guys rule” t-shirts. Because you rule.
Filed under: Midwest
Summer has turned out to be a pretty quiet time for writing. In the 2+ months I have been home, there have been a variety of things keeping me busy. There is, of course, the engineering work at SEL, which has become more of a half-time rather than a full-time job. Outside of the office, this Summer kicked of with lots of yard work ahead of our family’s vacation to the Midwest earlier this month. Since returning, I have been busy sorting through pictures from the trip, the last of which I finally uploaded tonight. I came home with many good memories, but since I don’t anticipate enough time in the near future to share the stories, I’ll defer to the adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
I should note, however, that one of the reasons for our trip was to attend my cousin Kari’s wedding. Since I was carrying around a video camera that entire day, you will have to look elsewhere for wedding photos. (My links to Kari and her mother, Margarethe, are probably good places to start.) Now that I’m finished with my vacation photos, I hope to start digging into the wedding footage soon.
The following links are to public albums on Facebook. Pictures from the flights to the Midwest and back are up on Flickr.
Chicago, Knudson’s lake house, High Cliff State Park, Minnesota, Grandparents’ farm
Filed under: Midwest
It has been a hectic holiday:
The Thursday before Christmas, I was helping Kristen attempt to fly from Spokane to a wedding in New Orleans. There was relatively little to do from halfway across the country but to pass along updates to family on her situation. Record snowfall, a dead cell phone, and a canceled flight later combined with a series of miracles to give Kristen a legendary weekend, concluded by a couple of whirlwind days in the Upper Midwest. (You can read the full story on her own blog.) Having been continually blessed by family since moving to Wisconsin, what I wanted for Christmas was only to spend the holiday with them, and getting my sister there was the best present I could have wished for. Kristen managed to dodge the storms on her return flights and arrived safely back in Moscow to celebrate Christmas Eve at home.
Eric and I moved out of the apartment on Friday, making a drop off at the Knudson’s lake house before unloading the rest of the Uhaul at his parents’ home. Thanks to a snowstorm, I spent Saturday with his family in Appleton instead of driving to New Richmond as planned. The drive was made Sunday morning, opting to travel through bitter cold and wind rather than driving snow. I would like to rant about the weather in Wisconsin, but given the systems that have been plaguing most of the country, all I can brag about is having experienced some of the coldest temperatures the lower 48 have seen this month. I think my cousin Steve takes the cake by living in Grand Forks, but Stevens Point was regularly below zero and Appleton has been dumped on several times this season. According to Uncle David, the Upper Midwest has not seen a winter like this for several years, and I have been fortunate to experience it.
When I arrived at my grandparents’ farm on Sunday, they had already gone into the city to visit with church friends and eventually pick Kristen up at the airport. After they brought her to the farm around midnight, the four of us stayed up until two a.m. and woke up the next day expecting a visit from the Knudsons, minus Greg. By that evening, the Colfax Hagens had also shown up in force, and we celebrated a cousin reunion that had not happened since the Christmas of 1990. Only Heather was missing, but as you can see, she was there in spirit:
A Heather Among Us
Tuesday, it was time for me to drive Kristen to Burnsville to meet Doug and Margarethe, and we promptly continued further on to Mankato in order to have dinner with Kari before her night shift at the hospital. The timing was perfect, and we also stopped by Julie and David’s place for Kristen to finally have the honor of meeting David Jr., who is now nearly two years old and quite generous with his stuffed animals.
Wednesday was airport day again for Kristen. After a short but sweet appearance, we said good-bye as I dropped her off at MSP on my way back to the farm. It was only hours until I would be joining my grandparents on their drive back into the city to attend a candlelight service at Ebenezer with the Swansons. That evening, I shared a Christmas Eve dinner of pinnekjøtt and lutefisk with Uncle David and the grandparents. Then, it was time to pack.
Early the next morning, I was saying good-bye to Wisconsin on my way to spend Christmas Day with the Swansons. In addition to Doug and Margarethe, Kari and her fiance, Brent, as well as Julie’s family were there. It was a fitting conclusion to my stay in the Midwest, considering that I had also spent my first few days in Burnsville. It was a blessed Christmas all the way around and enough to make me wish for even a couple more days with relatives. Of course, with Kari’s upcoming wedding, I will have ample excuse to be back by next July.
To accompany this post, I have uploaded some photos to Flickr (including a few from Kristen and Margarethe’s cameras.)
Filed under: Midwest
I arrived safely back in Point yesterday. A storm was blowing in, and the roads were just beginning to freeze, so I witnessed several holiday travelers whose weekend ended in either a ditch or the miles of resulting traffic. Other than that, I didn’t come back with any amazing stories – just great memories. It was the first Thanksgiving I had spent with family in several years, and I was blessed by the chance to see nearly all of my extended relatives in one weekend.
It started Wednesday when I joined the Knudsons at Greg’s sister’s house north of Minneapolis. I spent the night with them before borrowing Eric’s GPS-equipped Saab to drive to our grandparents’ farm on Thanksgiving Day, where we had a full house, including Uncle David, Uncle Wayne, Aunt Becky, their sons Carl and Matthew, Carl’s wife, Kristi and Becky’s Aunt JaVerna – an eighty year old woman with an incredible personality and amusing sense of humor. The Knudsons joined us there on Friday, and on Saturday I drove back into the city to spend the night with Uncle Doug, Aunt Margarethe, my cousin Kari and her boyfriend, Brent. We attended Ebenezer on Sunday morning, where I was introduced to several Norwegian high school exchange students from Hillcrest, some of whom led the congregation in worship, including a Norwegian praise song. They were as surprised as I was to hear someone speaking their language. Combine that experience with waking up today to the month of December and our first lasting snowfall, and it makes me eager to realize that I now have less than four weeks before flying back.
Thankgiving Day, 2008
The Honorary Knudson
Family Reunion: Erics dog, Mari (left) with her mother, Chase.
The Swansons made me feel right at home!
I spent part of this afternoon putting together a Christmas wish list. While I am perfectly content being near family for the holidays, Margarethe specifically requested some ideas, so I told her socks. You will find those and a few other things on the list I created here. I was grateful for the much needed still-camera that my family sent me for my birthday, which has allowed me to take photos like these from Thanksgiving. Some of the items on my wish list would help me to shoot and edit video on the ski slopes this season.
One final note: as I was walking in the front door this evening after a rare trip to Starbucks in honor of World AIDS Day, I noticed the moon courting Venus and Jupiter. If your skies aren’t cloudy tonight, check out the view. It won’t happen again until 2052.
I am sensing a theme: there is something about early November that God uses as a reminder in my life. Watching the snow accumulate outside reminds me of where I was this time last year. Yesterday marked the anniversary of that fated night in my tent on the shore of Lake Mjøsa, closed in by subfreezing temperatures and enduring the darkest loneliness I had ever experienced. In a way, I find myself back in that tent.
I am in Wisconsin by my own choice. That choice was made so I could spend time with a family I grew up hardly knowing, and I have been extraordinarily blessed by them. But these months have turned out to be lonelier than expected, and that loneliness has somehow culminated tonight. I am struck by the irony of the timing.
Loneliness is something I am no longer afraid of. It focuses my mind and soul in a way that is impossible under other circumstances. Of course, it is uncomfortable and almost judging in the way it brings me to consider what choices I could have made to keep me from arriving at this point. But I live with few regrets, and I have none now, though there are many people in my life that are missed at this particular moment.
My desire to return to Norway has been growing. If I am able to leave next month as planned, I do not expect the same trials with which I was initiated by my last adventure. I carry the responsibility of the many lessons I have been taught by my experiences of the past year, and if I return, the open arms of the unknown will not be waiting for me.
Instead, I will have the opportunity to hit the ground running. I could again arrive at the mountain with nothing but a backpack, or I could challenge myself to make something more of the time I am given there. Last year was incredible, but I do not want to repeat it – I want to build on it. Every moment, every choice, every life ought to have purpose, and I realize that I must come closer to finding mine before touching down. My love for that corner of the world is unlike any other. Lord willing, I may find a purpose that will keep me there.
Whenever my mom and dad attend Resonate Church in Pullman, they are usually greeted as “Tim’s parents.” This Sunday, when I visited Ebenezer in Minneapolis, I was welcomed as “Gary and Barb’s son.” This is the church that my mom grew up in and where she met dad while he was attending the University of Minnesota. I was in the city as part of a weekend visit with my dad’s parents in New Richmond, and we spent Sunday afternoon watching our first snowfall with my mom’s brother and his wife at their home in Burnsville. On Saturday, I also had the chance to spend some time with both of my dad’s brothers when they dropped by the farm. I have just arrived back in Stevens Point and will soon be driving to work. Since my family sent me a new camera for my birthday, I wanted to put up a couple of pictures before I go.
With Uncle Wayne, Aunt Becky, Grandpa Dave and Grandma Gerda at their farmhouse in New Richmond on Saturday.
With Uncle Doug and Aunt Margarethe at their home in Burnsville on Sunday.
I’m used to hearing English with a Norwegian accent, so I had a rough time ordering my lunch from a couple of Hispanics today. I ate at a place called Chipotle Burritos & Tacos, which is like Taco Bell meets Quiznos in the food co-op. I think one of these would do well in Moscow.
