Farmor Chapter 70

Monday, November 19, 1990

In 1982, when I left Denmark, I was excited to start my new life in America. As the plane left the ground, my heart was torn. I had to leave my dad and other family members behind. I didn’t know if I would ever get to see any of them again.

It also meant that I would most likely never get to meet my grandmother (farmor) on my dad’s side. I had seen her when I was 2. I had so often wondered what she was like.

I was sad over the loss of my baby. It had me thinking about my dad. He should have received the photo album I had made him back in July. I missed him, and I was sad I hadn’t heard back from him. I closed my eyes and tried to think of happy things that had happened in my life, and to be grateful for what I had.

I had just enough pillows and pillowcases for our family and each child that I babysat. I had a washer but no dryer, since we never seemed able to afford one. It was a problem every time I washed the pillowcases. I would worry they wouldn’t dry in time before the daycare kids came back.

I needed more pillowcases. It was one of the many things that weighed on my mind.

I had a list of items I needed to buy. I added pillowcases to it. When I got to the store, I got all the items on my list. Before I paid for them, I added everything up to make sure I had enough money. I came up short. Food was more important, so I put the package of pillowcases back on the shelf.

As I stood in line, waiting to pay, I felt bad about not being able to afford the pillowcases. I looked up to the sky and silently asked Heavenly Father for some pillowcases. I felt my prayer had been heard. The feeling was so strong that I was excited to see where the pillowcases would come from.

Thursday, November 29, 1990

My stomach was growing. I was still sick from morning sickness, and I was still seeing the doctor. Every week, the doctor told me to hang in there. I started to wonder if my body was ever going to figure out that there was no baby.

Today, while I was preparing lunch for the daycare kids, I felt warm water running down my legs. I wondered what was going on.

I realized it must be my water that broke. I called my doctor to tell him what was happening. He said it was a good sign and that the rest of the placenta would follow. He told me to expect a really bad period. After that, I would be on my way to recovery.

Friday, November 30, 1990

The doctor wasn’t kidding about a bad period! It was because the placenta and everything else that comes with a pregnancy had to pass. It was painful! At least my body has finally figured out that there is no baby, and nature was taking its course.

Saturday, December 1, 1990

We were just getting by as usual. I still couldn’t afford any extra pillowcases or Christmas presents for Jared and Sarah.

Monday, December 3, 1990

I got a note in the mail saying there was a package at the post office for me. I figured the package was probably nothing, and I didn’t want to spend the gas to go get it.

Saturday, December 8, 1990

All week, I had been wondering what was in the package. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I went to the post office to pick it up.

It was from Denmark. The handwriting reminded me of my dad’s, yet I could tell it wasn’t his. I looked in the corner to see who the sender was. It said Hanne Lund. I couldn’t think of who that would be. Lund was my dad’s last name, but his first name was nowhere to be found on the package. I hurried home to open it and see what was inside. I hoped there might be a clue to who Johanne was.

Jared and Sarah were just as curious about the package as I was. They watched with excitement as I opened it. The box was filled with old pictures, handmade Christmas ornaments, and a few toys that had belonged to my dad.

It was all wrapped in yards of fabric. I brainstormed what I could do with all that material. I knew I couldn’t use it to make clothes for the kids because it was material from the sixties and was clearly out of style. The prints on the material were of kids playing. Then I thought that I could make curtains out of it and put it in the room where the daycare kids and I spend a lot of time, but I didn’t need curtains. I put the material aside and looked through the rest of the box.

Some of the pictures were of my dad, and there were even some of my mom from when they were young. There were also a few pictures of my brother. When he was little, but none of me. I didn’t recognize the lady in some of the pictures, but I thought it might be my Farmor.

Then I saw a letter. When I opened it, there was Danish money. There was enough for us to have a nice Christmas. I read the letter. It started out by saying that I might not know who it was from, so she introduced herself and said that she was my Farmor.

She wrote that while she was visiting my dad, he showed her the photo album I made of my family. She also read the letter that I had written to him. The things that I had written to my dad tugged at her heart. She said that in one of the pictures, there was something I had sewn. Since she knew I sewed, she sent material she no longer needed. That’s why she wrapped it around the things in the package, to keep them safe.

The letter then said that since you know how to sew, maybe you can make pillowcases from the material.

I had to reread this paragraph several times because I could hardly believe what I was reading!

I picked up the material and thought pillowcases were the perfect idea! The thought of making them out of the material had never even crossed my mind!

I saw that she had written the letter in November. I thought that this was most likely around the time I had said an extra-long prayer, pouring my heart out to Heavenly Father.

Letter from my Farmor. I highlighted the part where my grandmother suggested I could use the material for pillowcases

My grandmother and I kept corresponding after that, and every once in a while, she would put a little money with her letters.

Never in a million years could I have imagined this was how I would get the much-needed pillowcases, especially not from my Farmor, the grandmother I had given up hope of ever meeting in this lifetime. I will forever be grateful for the divine help I received during this very difficult time in my life!