Hip, Hip, Hoorah!

Today is Norway’s big day.  They celebrate each and every year, their freedom from Sweden, and they do it with great enthusiasm.  Even if one is sitting home for the day and not going anywhere, they dress up in their finest attire to show their respect for the day, then they watch the parades all over the country, on the TV.  Such was Tante Kari’s day, but not ours.  Kari didn’t feel like venturing out today (her hip is permanently damaged from a mistake during surgery, and she lives with constant pain), so we spent part of our morning visiting a little with her and watching the parade in Oslo go by the King’s castle. 

There was also a huge parade downtown Aalesund, but the amount of rain coming out of the sky more than dampened my enthusiasm to go see it.  We decided to skip that one and just go to the local parade that Kaleb’s school put on in the afternoon. 

When in Norway, do as the Norwegians do – so we all got dressed up.  Kory and Kaleb both wore a suit and tie (ironicially, in Norwegian they are called a “dress” and a “slip”), and I even put on a skirt and nylons and borrowed some accessories from Tante Kari! Scary.  We stopped by to visit Tante Ruth before heading out for our festivities.  She was sitting up in a chair, eating, when we arrived.  She sure looked better than she did last week and she was thrilled we took the time to come greet her and ‘congratulate’ her on the day.   (“Gratulere med dagen” is what Norwegians say to each other on this fine day.)  She was pretty peppy so I’m thankful we had a few minutes with her.  She complimented me on speaking Norwegian so well – and even with the local dialect.  I’m not sure that’s really something to be complimented on, however, as the locals here are thought to have one of the worst dialects in all of Norway.  Uff.

We took Daniel home before we dropped Kaleb off at his school for the parade.  There must have been 500 people in that parade and I’m sure only about 50 on the sidelines watching it.  It cracks me up every time.  All the parade consists of is the school children marching down the street waving flags and yelling, “Hip hip, hoorah!”  That’s it.  It certainly is lacking in any American overkill, but for them, it’s a thrill beyond words.

Kaleb wasn’t feeling too well all day today.  He hurt his foot while playing with Daniel and then he complained of chills and a headache and sure enough, he had a fever, which I didn’t discover until later in the day.  He was pretty listless in the parade and had a hard time keeping up with his friends.  He didn’t want to stay afterwards and visit anyone, he just wanted to lie down.  Poor thing.  I just assumed he was tired from not getting enough sleep last night with Daniel over, but now I know it was more than that.

We got to greet many people we know after the parade was over.  Lots of our old neighbors were wondering how it’s going for us so we had a chance to catch up a little with them.  We saw Sabina and she wanted us to come over to her place and greet her mom, Tone.  Tone had invited us to a party today but we’d already been invited to a grill at Bjørn’s house so we had to pass up her invitation.  We just stopped in for a quick visit before we went to Bjørn’s.  Lots of visiting today, that’s for sure, and I was thankful the rain quit just as the parade started and then it returned right when it ended.  God is so good.

Bjørn had his and Inger’s family over today for the big “unveiling” of his man cave (hagestue), and we were privileged to be included.  It’s not completely done, but done enough he was able to have a “grill” and make some delicious food fit for such a celebration.  It was pretty cold outside, but the adults got cozy inside his “garden living room” as it’s literally translated, and had more food than we should have, before going inside for cake and coffee.  Anytime there is any celebration in Norway, there’s always cake.   And if making the hagestue himself and doing all the grilling weren’t enough – Bjørn even made one of the cakes we ate today!  I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten a cake a man has made, but it was incredibly good.  I don’t think there is anything that man can’t do.

I made a pasta salad for the party but there was so much other food there, I had plenty left over.  I took it over to Tina and Are so they could have a little “kvelds mat” (night food).  I know Tina’s feeling overwhelmed with caring for Are, so any food she doesn’t have to cook is a little break for her.  Once again, Are was looking even better today than yesterday.  He was able to sit at the table for an hour and have some food and visit with a friend today.  He was all smiles when we showed up, so that was a huge Hallelujah moment.  That man is on the mend.  Amazing.

Kaleb fell asleep the minute we got home so I’m trusting God a good night’s sleep will put him on the mend as well.  We have no time for sickness in our house, that’s for sure!  Too much to do and too little time to do it.

A few of the women at the party today apologized for not wearing their bunads.  One of them was at the parade in the city this morning and got so drenched from the rain, she had to change her clothes.  The other one said she put hers on, but made the choice she wanted to breathe today instead, so she wore something else with a little more room.  I can totally relate.  Just wearing panty hose for one day about did me in and made me realize why years ago I gave up trying to look good – because I just want to be comfortable and when I’m wearing uncomfortable clothes I can’t think of anything else but how miserable I am.  Wearing clothes with no restrictions frees my mind to think about all kinds of other things - like how good that cake tasted that Bjørn made today.