Memories

Time it Was

Today would have been the 68th birthday of someone who was once and will always remain very special to me. Our loving bond with Suzanne's family in Sweden softens the loss, but it's still persistently painful, twenty six years later. Unbelievably, she was murdered by a mentally unstable person in the safe kingdom of Sweden. The world has missed what she might have been, but while she lived she surely felt her wings. 

Rest in peace, Suzanne, we had a great run. I still can't believe that spontaneous arm wrestling moment with another very precious friend, B-way. That collage photo was taken seconds after they threw themselves down in the middle of a main street in Camden Maine back in 1971. It was the end of the summer we met at Camp Kiwanee in Hanson Massachusetts as camp counselors. Bonds that death and loss can never weaken were quickly formed, and boy did we all have fun.  In 1972, after my first year teaching, she and I shared a summer long adventure through Sweden and Europe. I met her family and 17 year old Lasse, her younger brother and the father of Kalle. Our USA cross country trip in 1975 was the next adventure, 8000 miles in three weeks, in my trusty 1973 Saab 99. Camping, driving all day, taking in the sights as one could do so cheaply and safely in the'70s, in our glorious '20s.
I spent Christmas, 1979 in Sweden,( oh to be that thin again!!), was there when Anna, Kalle's sister was born. Our parents met the next summer in Uddevalla, Sweden on the beautiful West Coast(mine are pictured with her in the States, 1979, lower right corner collage photo) She and I set off on a train adventure through Sweden and Finland and Norway with an organized hiking, camping and canoeing trip in the Scandinavian Arctic tundra that same summer after my parents returned home to the States. It was an unforgettable experience, I long to return to Finland.


Suzanne will be forever young in my memories, in those occasional dreams, but she lives on now through shared love, and our precious multi-generational, international family connections. 

 June 8, 1948~December 13th, 1990


For the Record,
This day came in cool and clear. It felt like Machiasport, Maine or Hunnebo, Sweden this morning when I stepped outside. It's that sensation of being in a very perfect and happy place...Sunshine On my Shoulders says it best, Suzanne's favorite song from the summer of 1971. 


All hands healthy