Luck (#52 Ancestors, Week 11)

Good luck, back luck, sometimes it’s hard to tell.

In the summer of 1985, after we graduated from college, my friend Trish and I traveled around Europe for six weeks. It was a dream come true. We traveled with our Eurail passes and so sometimes we slept on the trains but most of the time we spent the night in a hotel or pensione. (The exchange rate was fantastic that summer!) Our itinerary included France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium but the details of the trip were flexible.

Unfortunately, terrorism reared it ugly head that summer. Bombs went off around Europe, and TWA flight 847 was hijacked in Athens. Greece had been on our itinerary but we prudently decided to cancel that part of the trip. This opened up some extra days to fill so after talking it over we decided to travel north to Sweden. We also decided we should let our parents know about our change in plans.

Remember, this is 1985. There were no cell phones then. In order to make a phone call home we had to go to a phone station and wait our turn. When I got through to my parents, they suggested that we try to meet up with my Swedish relatives. They gave me Aunt Helen’s phone number, because she had been to visit the Swedish relatives and would know how to contact them.

Marie

As luck would have it, I was able to connect with a “cousin” named Marie Larsson. She met us in Malmo and took us around to where my great-grandfather Herman Peterson had lived.

The back of the photo reads,
"Where Dad P was born."

Trish and I in front of the home
in 1985

Marie shared some lunch with us and we did our best to communicate—she in broken English and we in no Swedish at all.

A Swedish lunch

I feel regret when I look back now, knowing that I had this fabulous experience in 1985 but have not kept up with my relatives in Sweden at all. If I had it to do over again…. Nevertheless, I’m so grateful that we were able to connect and that I was able to walk “the old sod.” Maybe one day luck will be with me again and I can reconnect with my family in Sweden...but without the benefit of an international crisis.