My grandparents Russell Swanson and Nannette Oberg were married on June 16, 1963. These two high school sweethearts settled down on a farm outside of Rio, Illinois where they worked as a farmer and a teacher and raised three children. My grandpa is a funny, hard-working, family man, who is slightly hard of hearing. My grandma is a sweet, loving, social butterfly. The two of them have always put family first, lived their lives as faithful Christians, and shared a passion for traveling. Their 50th wedding anniversary was this summer and to celebrate our Swedish heritage they took our entire family to Sweden. As we still have cousins living in Sweden our visit was very family oriented. We visited many of our ancestors former homes and villages. We were able to experience a heavy dose of Swedish culture- meatballs and all!
I took this picture when we were walking through Stockholm. This picture is a perfect representation of our trip. First off, my grandparents were always leading the pack, making sure to point out the most important sights. Also, the only reason we flew across the pond in the first place was because these two crazy Swedes fell in love fifty years beforehand. Our trip was centered around the love these two have for each other and for their family. I have never seen my grandparents as happy as they were to have all of us traveling with them. At a family dinner our Swedish cousins hosted for us my grandpa gave a little speech about how grateful he was for all of us. He mentioned that he didn't think he had much time left, but felt truly blessed in his lifetime. He got choked up by the end of his speech and that is when I truly understood how much this trip meant to him.
My family means a lot to me; they have shaped me into the woman I am today. My grandpa has taught me not to take life too seriously and that family is God's greatest gift to us. My grandma and I are very similar people in that we both love Chicago and socializing. She is truly an incredible woman and one of my biggest role models. I hope that one day I can emulate both of them in different respects. I want to be able to make people laugh the way my grandpa can and let people feel loved as much as my grandma can. I also hope that one day I can have a marriage as happy and long as theirs and be surrounded by family who loves me as much as I love them.
I took this picture when we were walking through Stockholm. This picture is a perfect representation of our trip. First off, my grandparents were always leading the pack, making sure to point out the most important sights. Also, the only reason we flew across the pond in the first place was because these two crazy Swedes fell in love fifty years beforehand. Our trip was centered around the love these two have for each other and for their family. I have never seen my grandparents as happy as they were to have all of us traveling with them. At a family dinner our Swedish cousins hosted for us my grandpa gave a little speech about how grateful he was for all of us. He mentioned that he didn't think he had much time left, but felt truly blessed in his lifetime. He got choked up by the end of his speech and that is when I truly understood how much this trip meant to him.
My family means a lot to me; they have shaped me into the woman I am today. My grandpa has taught me not to take life too seriously and that family is God's greatest gift to us. My grandma and I are very similar people in that we both love Chicago and socializing. She is truly an incredible woman and one of my biggest role models. I hope that one day I can emulate both of them in different respects. I want to be able to make people laugh the way my grandpa can and let people feel loved as much as my grandma can. I also hope that one day I can have a marriage as happy and long as theirs and be surrounded by family who loves me as much as I love them.