Posts Tagged ‘Family’
Arriving
Posted on: March 26, 2013
During the journey
some things I have learnt
during the journey
it isn’t always
the names of the stations
that are significant
but rather
who will meet you on the platform
when you finally arrive.
Siv Arb, from Seamstresses of the night
In transit
Posted on: March 21, 2013
I am at my dad’s house in Rättvik, Dalarna. The sun is glistening on the snow-covered fields outside.
I keep warm by the fireplace inside.
Five days ago, I arrived Stockholm looking like a Christmas tree with pink shoe laces, a pink and purple hoodie and a multi-coloured embroidered yoga mat-case.
Around me, everyone was wearing dark designer coats, leather boots and fur hats.
But my grandfathers wife, Ursula, generously gave me a cashmere wool coat as a belated birthday gift and soon I was one of the flock.
In Stockholm I did what I always do on my return-visits: run around the city catching up with friends and family until everything becomes a blur of subways stops and coffee shops.
This time my Norwegian friend and colleague Karoline was in town so we made the most of it, meeting up for lunches and after work drinks with my friends Micke and Pontus.
I also made time to see Bibi, Lito and Jesper. And my cousin Filippa and her newly born daughter, Otilia.
It was love at first sight.
People’s lives have changed while I’ve been away.
I guess mine has too.
Although, while I travel on these trains in Sweden, carrying my luggage from place to place…
It all feels very familiar…
Holidays are over
Posted on: March 15, 2013
From across the room, piles of stuff are starring at me screaming: Get Packing!
But I choose to lie here in bed with a purring cat by my side. Just a little longer.
I’ve gotten sick again which makes it the forth case of tonsillitis in two months, and yet a reason why I really need to go home.
In all honesty, my time in Cape Town has had its ups and downs. Not only have I been sick a lot, I also got mugged off my favourite camera and my USB stick with six months travel photos, stayed in four different apartments and went bankrupt long ago. But because it was Malin’s first time in Cape Town I kind of ignored that. Which should keep me in debt for about a year.
On the upside I got to laugh with my best friends, enjoy these spectacular sights once more and meet someone that made me realize what I want – and what I don’t want.
I am ready to go home and get back in charge.
Of my health, my goals and ambitions.
Create some stability. Grow up.
See, I must have done something right in my previous life because everybody is always looking after me!
Right now, I feel unworthy of it all.
My mom tells me that there are wool scarfs and mittens waiting for me when I get home and if that isn’t enough she will keep me warm with hugs. My dad asked if I wanted to go skiing in the Rättvik slopes next weekend, because he just ‘wanted to spend time with me’
In Stockholm, Rättvik, Hudiksvall and Oslo people are waiting for me. Bibi said I could stay with her in Stockholm. Both Malin and Maria has offered me a room in Oslo until I find my own.
‘Up to you babe. No stress. I love you’ were Maria’s exact words.
Here in Cape Town, both Lorena and Tess opened up their hearts and homes to me.
I don’t know how to thank you enough. But I am dedicated to try.
See you on the strong side.
Distance got nothing on us
Posted on: January 12, 2013
I woke up way too early in my friend’s apartment with last night’s makeup and an aching head. But the sun was shining and I had an important Skype date to attend…
No matter the distance and the many years that go by, there is no place like my best friend’s house and that hour when the morning sun reflects on the snow outside.
And no comfort as the familiar sound of her voice and our hometown dialect, as we share stories and secrets meant for no one else.
Mio and Minna are growing up to be the most charming, loving and wonderful children and Frida and Andreas keep finding ways to grow and evolve, even after fifteen years together. They are a source of inspiration and a place I will always call home.
Saknar dej bästis och ser fram emot att mysa med hela familjen Löfling snart! Älskar dej! <3
The magic of the moment
Posted on: October 17, 2012
Right here, in the little hippie town of Pai, in Northern Thailand.
Right now, warm blues music infusing the cool evening air.
Me, leaning back in this open internet spot’s leather chair having just finished a delicious lime and coconut ice cream.
And the band plays my favourite song; Little Wing.
Does it get any better than this?
My dad, saying that if only he was a little mosquito stuck to my backpack, he would love to go all the places I was going.
I promised I wouldn’t spray any repellent on him.
- Oh, it would take a lot more than that for me to let you go, he replied.
The sound of my grandmother’s laugh through the computer speakers, reading my mother’s beautiful e-mails, missing my best friends and knowing that they miss me too.
An interesting encounter with a zen writer and healer has had me thinking, and I can’t seem to want to make any decisions about the next couple of days, although I know with ever dawn, my flight out of Asia is approaching.
I really just want to enjoy these moments.
Surrounded by majestic mountains and even greater love.
It’s the day of departure.
My bag is packed, my boarding pass is printed.
I have booked a place to stay for the first night, a spiritual little retreat in Ubud, right next to where I will go for yoga classes.
I am so excited!
Again, a feeling of gratitude fills my being.
This last couple of days I have received so much love, I feel like my heart is brimming and ready to spill into the World.
I have stayed with Ursula, my grandfather’s wife, and we have enjoyed wonderful little quiet breakfasts with soft classic music playing in the background, talked about life and toasted in Champagne. She showed me photos from when she and my grandpa were in Bali, Pakistan and India, 30 years ago. Priceless!
In 3 days I have managed to have lunch with Anja, cuddled with her newly born and picked up her son Aston from kindergarten, met up with my room-mate Lina from the school years who was in Stockholm for the weekend and got a pretty bracelet for my upcoming 30th, and even seen my best childhood guy friend Fredric for a quick hug at the Central Station.
I have also attended a traditional Swedish crayfish party, with hats, snaps and the whole shebang. It was a surprise party for a girlfriend who is going to New York to study.
And Stockholm offered a wonderful treat as me and a few friends were having a vegetarian dinner buffet at the super cosy Herman’s café on Södermalm on Saturday night; a stunning view with fireworks over Gröna Lund.
My friends joked and said they had organized the fireworks, just for me.
I got a pretty heart and lovely card from my girlfriend Beatrice and a self-made necklace from her Jamaican husband Fabian.
Yesterday I ran around the city for hours and bought smart travel gear and electronic equipment that I needed, but also had time for a last coffee with my best friend Bibi and endless hugs and kisses.
NOW…
I need to say goodbye to this little Mac for six months, which is a good buddy and one I will miss a lot, but I think this trip is just too long and wild for a computer.
I will try to keep up the blog, but don’t count on much.
Instead, I am going back to my roots with a traditional diary, pen and paper.
Thank you so much for reading!
Love and Light,
Helen
Leaving the loved ones
Posted on: August 31, 2012
Im on the train from Hudiksvall to Stockholm. A route I’ve taken a thousand times.
But with me I’ve got flight tickets to Indonesia, South East Asia and India, trips I’m taking for the first time.
The train is fast and quiet. Outside the grey autumn sky meets green fields and yellow tinted trees. Fall is definitely here. I’m on my way toward 6 months of summer.
Friends and family wish me a good trip and tell me how envious they are of my travels…me, I’m trying to remember why I should leave.
I’ve been too tired to express my gratitude over the last couple of weeks.
But believe me when I say I feel utterly happy and loved.
Showing my family around Oslo was wonderful and Saturday night we had an amazing dinner with my two room mates Charlotte and Maria at Restaurant Fjord which is just next door to Hotel Savoy and therefore good friends of mine. Don’t know if I’ve ever had a 4,5 hours dinner before but we got at least 6 dishes, 5 different glasses of wine, 2 desserts, coffee, delicious macaroons and a constant refill on the champagne. And lots of hugs before we left. There is even a picture of my mom holding a scribbled note with a heart and the restaurant manager’s telephone number, just for fun. We ended the night with a drink at the tallest building’s Sky Bar.
Obviously I took pictures of every dish and some great ones from the day we spent sightseeing, but I just realized now I put them in another computer with the ambition to blog before I left mom’s. Now it turns out I prioritized hanging out with friends, rounds at the pub, biking, visiting grandma and late evening Skype calls with Cape Town.
I found this picture of the sign I gave to mom to thank her for her open heart and doors. It hangs in her kitchen now: “Mom’s Hotel – Always Open” I also gave my brother a pillow with the text: “Happiness is having what you want – and wanting what you have” He smiled a little over my fascination with quotes and deep wonders – my brother is one of those people that just lives and spreads joy naturally, he doesn’t need to be told what happiness is.
I was also grateful because on the way back from Oslo we stopped by my dad’s house where my other grandmother and her husband also lives. Dad had made a big effort and prepared a three course dinner with wine, so again, a lot of eating and lots of photographs that I’m not able to show you.
Just believe me when I say, that the photos are beautiful, but reality is better.
I WILL blog before I go, but first awaits three days in Stockholm and more time with loved ones.
June becomes July
Posted on: July 4, 2012
Fresh summer days and bright summer nights pass by.
Day by day, June is left behind.
What a month!
Catching up with friends in Stockholm, Hudiksvall and Rättvik. Friends with children, friends who are getting married, and friends that remain the same.
A beautiful midsummer celebration with my brother, his girlfriend and our mutual childhood friends, in my dad’s big house in Dalarna.
Midsummer traditional dancing, home-made pickled herring, snaps and riding “raggarbil” at 5 a.m in the sunny morning.
Our dad was away on holiday so we had the house to our selves and apparently we fit 9 people in there without any trouble and without even bothering our grandmother and her husband living next door.
I was glad I got to see both my grandmothers on my vacation.
And of course, all the quality time spent with mom in Sardinia.
My mom had offered me this trip for my upcoming 30th birthday. I knew she wouldn’t accept money in return so I wanted to give her something special for her 60th. She has been looking for the perfect watch for years and haven’t found it, but I did, in an old Italian watchmakers’ store probably passed on for generations. The watch had everything she looked for, and she was so surprised, and so happy when I gave it to her, during our last dinner in Porto Taverna.
We are already planning our next trip to Italy…
But first I got my big trip to think about and save money for, so for now, I am back in Oslo working. I’ve taken on some extra hours at the Savoy and planning to keep it simple in July. Maria has moved out of the flat and me and Charlotte leave in 3 weeks. A friend who is on holiday in August has offered me to rent her place for the remaining weeks until I start my trip. Mom and my brother will probably come fetch me, so no more long hours on trains.
As for Oslo, it’s good to be back and in some kind of routine…which always gets interrupted by what’s called life.
Wednesday I was out for dinner and drinks with Maria and Charlotte, Thursday I met up with my friend Ryan who was here for a few days, and Friday we had a big staff summer party at my manager’s house. We had such a good time that me and Karoline didn’t leave the house until noon on Saturday. I went straight to work.
Day by day, another month has started.
Time flies so I better spread my wings.
After rain comes sunshine
Posted on: May 11, 2012
The rain is pouring outside and all I want to do is eat chocolate in bed.
That’s not entirely true. I want to be curled into my man’s safe embrace, feel his firm hand on my breast and his warm breath in my neck while he feeds me with chocolate…
But I don’t have a man.
So I settle for the chocolate.
It’s been such a busy week at work, with the hotel being fully booked every night, just like all the other central hotels in Oslo, we’ve had to lay a new puzzle every day and work almost around the clock. May is apparently a good month for business.
To me, May means a lot of fun.
There is the annual Holmenkollen Relay Race tomorrow and I am one of 40 000 participants.
We are fifteen people from Hotel Savoy & Bastion running different laps around the city to raise money for Rainforest preservation. And to enjoy a free bar at the party afterwards…
Next week Norway celebrate their National Day at the 17th of May and no doubt they’ll do it in style this year as well. What’s great is that my little sister and her boyfriend will be here to enjoy it with me! Even though I have to work, I’ll still see a lot of them as they will stay at my hotel for three days.
The week after that I go to Gothenburg for two days to see my best friend Frida (and perhaps my sister again if there’s time) where we’ll stay at another Clarion Collection hotel, before I head down to the picturesque summer town, Båstad, where I graduated from a tourism and service management class in 2007. And now, we are having a reunion! Words can’t describe how excited I am to catch up with my old class mates and best friends!
It sounds almost silly, but I’ll head back to Oslo for only two days of work before I go on a three weeks holiday, starting May 31st in Stockholm!
Now I’ve lived most of my grown up life in Stockholm so the city always feels familiar, even though friends move or have families, there’s always a place for me to stay. My best friend Bibi has got a new flat so I’ll crash at her place for a few nights before my wonderful mother comes down and we’ll check into yet another Clarion Collection hotel (I get good discounts) for two nights.
5th of June we’re flying to sunny Sardinia.
Sooo….I think I can stand a little rain…
The many ways of sisters
Posted on: April 9, 2012
Here are some pics from my weekend at my sister’s in Gothenburg. Being on the Swedish side, I took every opportunity to have fika: coffee, tea, sandwiches, cakes…even at 3 a.m in the morning after a night out.
Also, because my sister works at Stadium, Sweden’s biggest sports- and clothing chain, and I got a good discount I spent half of my salary on a new training outfit.
Sara is my half-sister and nine years younger than me, but we are similar in so many ways, the many ways of sisters.
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