How can you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been?
After my sister graduated from high school in 2001 my aunt took her for two weeks to travel across Norway, visiting the land of our ancestors. She traveled from Oslo to Bergen to Solund (one side of the family's side) to Eide, the area of Norway from which my father's father's family emigrated. Meeting relatives, experiencing life of a rock in the North Sea, walking the lands our family left around the turn of the century, learning what drew the Norwegians to the Upper Midwest and feeling a connection to a land not our own.
It's the one thing in life about which I am envious of my little sister. She was able to experience all of this and has that connection that I lack.
I want that for Ingrid. I want her to know from where she comes. I want to take her to experience life in "the old country", visit the family, see the sights, get grounded. I want to be the one to help her see life, experience the past so she can learn and build her future.
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