When my paternal grandmother passed away in 1920,  at the age of seventy eight, I was still nine years away from making my appearance on this earth.  What I know about her has come from what I have been told, have read and pictures I have seen.  What appears to be the most striking, there are no pictures of her smiling.

Imagine that you are 45 years old with children ages three, five, ten and eleven. (my father was the three year old)  You have a comfortable lifestyle, the family is well clothed and housed with enough food and savings that are modest but quite adequate.  Then one Sunday afternoon your husband comes home from a church meeting and says, “We need to move, The country’s economy is in shambles,  we have been in a famine for  the past three years, and the state controlled church is not right.   Pack our necessary belongings for a permanent journey to another country where we can have religious freedom and start a new life.  We can’t take much, we will have to travel light”.

In a state of shock, so many things crossed her mind.

What do you take with you?  How do you dispose of belongings you can’t take with you?  How do you leave behind your prized possessions? How do you say good bye to your parents & grandparents when you will probably never see them again?  The questions Grandma Christina Maria presented seemed to fall on deaf ears.  With little room for compromise,  tearfully she realized the decision had been set in stone with no turning back.  If she wanted to keep her family together, her difficult task had to begin immediately.

In addition to clothing for six, for a variety of seasons,  food and a means of obtaining food would be no easy task to accomplish.  Time was of essence.  Weather would be a major factor and the voyage would take at least three months.

As they boarded the Scandinavian ship for their departure, waving goodbye to their families and friends, with the cool ocean spray in their faces and tears in their eyes,  they looked back at the wild flowers in the meadow  and  lush green trees that extended down to the rugged coast line with its’ beautiful narrow  inlet, sites they  would never see again.  With wonderment as to what was about to be encountered,  they each had their few possessions in bags they could  carry. For three days at sea. they sailed to Hull, England;   A seven hour train ride took them to Liverpool, England where they would wait for their transatlantic steamer while being housed at emigrant hotels owned by the shipping companies.  This lengthened their trip making it more costly.  They were responsible for their own luggage, making sure it got on the right ship and that baggage thieves did not relieve of them of their possessions before they would catch their ship for a transAtlantic voyage.  In addition there were four little children to care for and keep track of.

The entire trip would last for more than three months.  Much of it on waters so rough that only a few avoided the sea sickness  and the retched conditions it caused and that combined with home sickness was almost unbearable.

Sometimes you are just too tired to smile.