Connecting with Ancestors in Norway

I find it mentally exhausting to connect with people who have passed, but the process brings my clients peace, and I do it for myself in my own time and find some joy. What I really love, is travel to areas where my ancestors lived. My DNA ancestry claims I’m 60% Northwestern Europe, so recent trips to Scotland and Ireland seemed mystical, with a connection that felt like it went back 300 years.

A few weeks ago, I made a quest to Norway and Finland. I felt a strong kinship to the people there, as their fish diet fulfilled me. The clear water, clean air, and snow-topped mountains made me gloriously content. 

With only fifteen instead of fifty tourists on my tour, I spent my days with a young Canadian woman with a brain so different from mine. She noticed architecture and knew facts, was slow to trust but open to knowledge. I floated along, absorbed smells and sounds, air and water, and connected with the right side of my brain, as she kept me from getting lost. 

I loved two things the most. First, the teepees, one at the Sami Museum (indigenous people, although they have only been there for 2000 years) where we saw a movie filled with their singing, and listened to a native speaker who connected with reindeer and his own universe. My second favorite part was the 6000-year-old rock art. I let the breeze sway me, felt the past, and used my eyes to see the deep water that my ancestors had travelled.

On the waning days of my trip, homesickness overcame me, which I’ve never felt before. Norway felt like home and I didn’t want to leave. I knew I’d never return, and I became wondrously emotional. This trip changed me, soothed me, and will hopefully take me through the last years of my life. I don’t want this glory and peace to ever leave.  

I want you all to raise your right hands and promise you will travel to the land that calls your name, as Norway calls mine.