After a day to settle in and sleep off the jet lag, we rebounded and set off over the Baltic Sea for the Swedish archipelago, to an island named Ringsö.
It will be hard to describe this magical place because I am not a writer nor a poet and this island deserves both.
First let me say this island is about 1500 acres. Rather big- yet small too. There are only three people who live on this island year round and 2 of them own it.
We went out on our cousin Torliefs boat off the coast of Nykoping. There were 14 of us delivered to the island along with all of the supplies we would need for 4 days. We hauled all of our water, food, clothes, etc down a dirt path to a quintessential old red Swedish house. Well, actually two houses and four barns.
There was electric, water, and a bathroom. There was a fully functioning kitchen, a large bunk room and a bedroom. The house was old, but simply put- awesome in its antiquity.
The house as charming as it was could not compare to the nature surrounding it. Meadows covered with grass, woods chock full of evergreens and deciduous trees, smooth rock ledges and cliffs, wild deer, horse, boar, bats and so many birds created an environment like no other I have seen. The sky sang. The meadows shone. The deer pranced and the sea reflected blue and emerald green like the woods and sky around.
Did I mention the light? The sun rose at 2:30 a.m. and the sun set at 11:30 p.m. The light was unreal and the children played in the fields until we called them in to sleep. But we couldn't sleep really. With that much light our biorhythms were so confused that it felt as if we never slept- just rested until we rolled into the next day.
We hiked. We climbed rocks. We looked at abandoned villages settled hundreds of years ago. We took photos and made meals. We flew kites and played games and explored. But mostly we relaxed. We felt the power of a magical place. We felt peace and beauty everywhere. Blue skies with white cotton clouds over red wooden buildings next to vibrant green fields. We watched herds of deer grazing all around, we heard cuckoo birds calling to each other, spotted sea eagles overhead, jumped into the Baltic Sea, and patted free roaming horses as they fearlessly approached.
I don't really know how to capture this experience - but I had more than one moment when I could feel my heart breaking open to the beauty of this island. I cried as I watched the boys running with their Swedish cousins, across the meadow trying to get the kite up, up, up. I cried when I stood at the southern most tip of the island and turned to look back at the rest of this extended Swedish family- frolicking on the beach, dogs barking, children laughing, grown ups happy to just be together.
It was like this. It was like this and more.
Because here with these words I cannot possibly describe the way it really looked and felt and was. But you can believe that we are so very, very lucky to have been there.
