beulahbondo's Diaryland Diary
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Trettonhelg
Swedish ladies of my mother's generation have a knack for finding each other at Swedish functions here in the U.S. When I was growing up, there were always these ladies around: nurses with groovy eyeglasses and hand-knitted clothes and some obscure connection to our family. I tended to conflate them all, being an uninterested teenager. Now I really enjoy their company.
Yesterday I spent the day and evening in Rhode Island with a gaggle of Swedish ladies and their American husbands. The hostess, Kerstin, met my mother at a Swedish Christmas service in Maryland about twenty years ago. Within five minutes they had figured out that Kerstin's aunt was my mother's babysitter in the 40s and became friends for life. The other ladies at dinner were Kerstin's new friend Astrid, who she picked up at some recent Christmas service, and Astrid's visiting mother, Kjerstin. Astrid went to the same nursing school as my mother, and her cousin went to school with Kerstin. Are you following?
So while the husbands looked pained, we carried on all night about things that only Swedes care about. "Astrid doesn't like yellow pea soup, you know!" "Haha ha ha HAAAAHAAAA HAAA!" "I like these little tomte. They're cute!" "Oh, but they're Norwegian, you know." "OH MY GOD! I've never had anything Norwegian on the table before!" HA HA HA HAAAA! "This is how my cousins pronounce gurka [pickles]: gurrrrrrKA!" "Oh, that's SO Stockholm! GurrrrKA!" "Vill du har mir finnpinnar?" "Oh, ja visst." "I'd really like to have a mangle."
We agreed that "Lord of the Rings" was ridiculous, but that tomte and the fairies in the mist on ponds are real.
All the vigorous nodding and "ja-ha" and speaking on the inhale made me feel so comfortable. When they spoke Swedish I understood only a few words but it was like being a kid again: I just stuffed myself with cookies and nodded happily, glad that I'm Swedish and not Norwegian, god help us.
The visiting mother, Kjerstin, brought her indoor shoes in a little handmade linen bag embroidered with a tiny flower. Could Swedish ladies be any more perfect?
9:55 a.m. - 2003-01-06
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