Tag: Family
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WEBERT. OLBERODE. ANCESTRAL HOME.
‘What’s your mother’s maiden name’? How many times have I had to answer that question? ‘Webert,’ I answer. But for most of my life it was only a name. A name I knew nothing about. And a name my mother knew little about. A few years ago I got bitten by the genealogy bug and […]
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THEY’RE TAKING ME TO MARRAKECH
I spent much of my youth hearing Graham Nash singing about the Marrakech Express. It was a big hit in the early 1970s and always on the radio. I often visualized about that train with ‘ducks and pigs and chickens’ and ‘charming cobras in the square’. Marrakesh seemed like some exotic, far off land in […]
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GRANDPA GAUSTAD
For as long as I remember, my mother has flaunted her ‘Norwegian-ness’. Her mother, Gertrude Gaustad, was of full Norwegian stock. So mom has an appetite for lefse but when I would ask her about our Norwegian ancestors she would draw a blank. She didn’t know much except that her grandfather was named Ole, he […]
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OLAV OF BYNESET
I hit a brick wall once. A genealogical brick wall, that is. For five years I had been trying to find out where my great grandfather, Ole Erickson Gaustad, came from. I was getting nowhere and figured I’d never find out. But one night in 2007, I was Googling ‘Gaustad’ and the village where I […]
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INTO THE LAND OF MY GERMAN ANCESTORS
I had visited Germany on numerous occasions prior to living here. And every time I visited I felt an odd sense of belonging. As long as I didn’t open my mouth to speak, I even felt German. I felt comfortable and at home. And in a way, I was indeed home. Half of me is […]
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THE FATHER/SON ADVENTURE DRAWS TO A CLOSE
DAY 26. Tbilisi International Airport. There is nothing more important in my life than my wife and son. And nothing more valuable to me than having quality time with Padma and Joseph. Padma and I have had 24 years of quality time together but having quality time with Joseph has been elusive. It isn’t easy […]
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JOSEPH’S GUARDIAN ANGEL
Day 24. Tbilisi. Getting sick while on holidays isn’t much fun. But falling ill in a foreign land where you are language challenged is downright terrifying. So when Joseph started vomiting last night I had a far bit of cause for concern. Joseph’s body started revolting around 11 pm and he made hourly dashes to […]
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MY FATHER ON FATHER’S DAY
I barely knew my father, but the fragments I held—eccentric brilliance, deep-sea dreams, fleeting moments in Alaska—still shape how I think about fatherhood. He lived wildly and inconsistently, burning bridges and chasing ideas. In the end, I was just a lightbulb in a long line of missed connections.
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GRANDMA AND SINCLAIR LEWIS
I was filing away some of my grandparents’ papers the other day when I spotted a short letter addressed to my grandmother, Cecile Belle Adam, in October 1940. It was a simple letter about missing a dinner engagement or similar and it made me start wondering why do we bother keeping such old correspondence. Then […]
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