‘Signs, Signs…Everywhere Signs….’

Something brushes the passenger window of our truck…while I’m jotting down thoughts about my Swedish grandparents….I have been obsessing over them…ever since I laid eyes on this photo. I look up to see two Yellow Finches…a male and a female…I smile…’Swedish‘ yellow…Grandma and Grandpa.

The brightly colored male is perched on a sign directly in front of me…the female in a nearby tree. I glance down for only an instant…to scribble something…when I look up…they’re gone. My eyes focus on the sign, ‘Visitor Parking Only’….My family believes in signs. A sign…or simply an amusing coincidence….It seems we’re on the right track…this piecing together of our family’s past.

But something about this photo from 1912 or ’13…stops me in my tracks. It speaks to me…almost hauntingly so. My cousin Dean, uncovered it …after I told him about the albums and anecdotes I’m assembling for our Swedish Family reunion.

It shows a young family, full of promise…my grandmother Anna Christina and Grandfather, Oskar Hjalmar Hard…standing in front of their Seattle home. Their two eldest, Marion and Ellen…all blond and curls…and their tow-headed brother Walt…in his father’s arms….there would be seven children in all. I pull out a magnifying glass to try and read their faces…searching for a hint about their lives. Then I realize…I already hold the crystal ball… veiled in the passage of time.

Yes, I already know…what they cannot imagine…some of the joys and heartaches to come…and maybe that is what makes it so haunting.  Ahead…The loss of a son, Benett in infancy…and a daughter Marion…a nurse…in her 20’s…the joy and relief of welcoming home their youngest. Bob…(my father)…a WWII tail gunner, on a dive bomber, aboard the USS Yorktown in the South Pacific…our grandfather’s tragic accident… and everything in between…life.

But now it seems it may take a crystal ball for me to see and piece together…the genealogical journey that brought them here. I mentioned in an earlier post…that my dad said…our grandfather and his brother(s), changed their name to ‘Hard’…when they immigrated from Sweden…but their original name was unclear…until now…with the help of a Swedish friend…I think I’ve unraveled part of the real life mystery…the mystery…of ‘what’s in a name’…our name…The journey continues….

Hej da,

Monica