Tuesday, January 06, 2009

decisions

first a short story:
It's the end of the 19th century in Småland (south of Sweden) and my paternal grandfather is still a child. They are very poor, many siblings and their father Samuel has taken the big decision that they are to emigrate to America to try to improve their lives. The bags are packed, the rest of the few belongings sold and someone else is to live in their shack. The expensive tickets for the trip from Gothenburg to America are lying on the night table and the children are finally asleep. Tomorrow will be they day they'll leave.

That night Samuel stayed up and did a lot of thinking. The next day he told his family that they were not going. According to my father, Samuel never told anyone what made him change his mind.

Ah, decisions. When you take a big brave risk you're supposed to make it, right? If there is any poetic justice. So what's my point?

- We're moving back to Sweden in a month.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's beautiful.

Esti said...

At least you tried, and that was brave. I wish you all the luck :)

●• Thereza said...

absolutely agree with Esti.
as i said to you before, you've got the right attitude. best of luck with the new move and look forward to meeting up before you go :)

Camilla Engman said...

sweden are happy and says welcome back!

Laura Brown said...

I lived in London and in Stockholm (now we are in Rome), and I love Stockholm. I would come back there right now if I could! Good luck!
Laura

marie-louise said...

Borta bra men hemma bäst...och endera dan ses vi:)

asphalt and air said...

alexandra,
the most important thing is to follow your heart. if your heart tells you that you're making the right decision then there's not much else to know.
and i agree with the others. you gave london a try and that was very brave indeed!
xoxo,
kristi

famapa said...

london kan va en sån jobbig/svår stad, när jag läste om hur kallt det var inne i er lägenhet blev jag påminnd om min första lägenhet här; svinkallt på vintern, kokhett på sommaren, heltäckningsmatta i badrummet etc etc. om man inte är krösus så tar det några år innan man kommer nån vart i den här stan och är man tonåring som jag var så spelar det ingen roll, man tänker inte på framtiden direkt. som sagt av de andra, värt ett försök men inte värt det i slutändan.

lycka till med hemflytten, vad varmt och skönt ni kommer att få det med trippel glaserade fönster :)