Spent the day visiting different family members. Over the past five years ever since I first came to  Poland I’ve gotten to know more and more of my family. The generation that I’m from already has kids and most of them already have kids of their own. My aunt Bronia is gracious enough to drive me to see some of them so that we can spend some time together. Everyone is a great host. I’ve come to visit here from London quite a few times and seen some grow up and experienced the loss of some passing away. I can also see where some of my personality and looks come from. 

I didn’t take too many pics today. It was a day in transit and the roads we travelled have become familiar to me. We pulled into this mall to buy some chocolates and mandarins for the kids. As we were purchasing these items we were talking about choices and how I could have been living here in this city if my parents made the choice to stay instead of emigrating to Canada in those times. As Bronia described it those times were really difficult in the country. Communism was drawing to a close and economically things were tough. It’s hard to say where I would be right now. I certainly know that my English wouldn’t be as good. 

Regardless of where one is life is always busy for everyone and it hasn’t been easy to visit this part of the family. When I do it always feels special as its where my dad is from. Geographically it is not that far from my mom’s village but the terrain is different. The house that once housed my dad’s family no longer stands. There is just the remains of a footing where it supported the corner of the house. On the land three houses stand where three of my aunts live as grandmas with some of their respective kids and their families. It makes for a lively place. The nervousness of our first meeting has changed into more of a familiarity between us. We showed each other pictures of our evolving lives and talked about experiences we had and what lies ahead. It was a good visit and there is more to come.