Stories & Histories

“…all time is eternally present.”

T. S. Eliot

When I was growing up, I loved listening to stories about my ancestors, and now I enjoy telling what I can remember to my children.

The photo heading this page is of the house where my maternal grandmother, Marion, was born in 1911. It is in Hawera, New Zealand, and represents one branch of my family history. Her husband, John, was born in 1906 in Kilmacolm, Scotland. My paternal grandparents, Åsmund and Thelma, were both born in Grimstad, Norway, in 1907 and 1917. Thelma spent much of her childhood with her family travelling back and forth between Grimstad and the USA.

Fortunately, many family members in all four branches have been good archivists and done research into their ancestor’s histories and stories. I would like to continue some of this tradition – not so much as a historian (a little bit), but mostly as a collector of stories that belong to my own life story. Each and every person in my extensive family tree are a reason that I exist. I wouldn’t be here without them.

This page represents a fascination for the past, and the role the past plays in relation to the present and the future. It provides perspective and rootedness. These roots have survived countless uprootings and replantings. But the stories are resilient, and belong to who I am now.

My own roots have been uprooted, as I in 2004 moved from Norway to Sweden to live with my husband. In 2006 we married, and our daughter was born. In 2009 our son was born. Their history is Swedish, and so their roots expand.