Letting go

Winter in Stockholm is showing itself from its best side: After many days with double digit freezing it is sunny and calm. This weekend we went to the local skating rim for some family fun meeting up with friends of our kids. Kids are back in school and I’m getting my head back into job searching. However, still plenty of time to go out enjoying the local scenery at the best time of day. Sharing a few of the best moments here.

Denmark

We visited Denmark for Christmas meeting up with family and enjoying time together in the summer house for the last time. All the animals came to say goodbye, squirrels, deers, pheasants. Getting ready to handover the place to a new owner from spring. It feels good to say goodbye, even if it stings a bit after more than 20 years and with many fond memories attached. I’ve promised the kids we get a dog when the house has been handed over. I’m sure the kids will not miss the long drive.

Returning home

Over at his blog, Thomas Munkholt has picked up reviewing Danish roleplaying scenarios in the Warhammer universe. He has nice words to say about my contribution to the 2009 anthology The Empire. Johannes Busted envisioned a collection of short form games spanning the range of game design styles popular in the Fastaval community at the time. Each game set in one of the provinces in the Empire.

I stepped in on a cancellation with the story game Returning Home, a two page, game masterless, structured freeform game. I had recently attended a reunion with my friends from high school which set me in a mood reflecting on the emotions attached to returning home to meet people and places that were once important to you. With its minimalistic design it complements other games in the anthology. Compared to other game designs I have done, I never felt a desire to go back and fix anything. I was and am quite pleased with my contribution.

Letting go

In a way I am now letting go. It still feels nice to return to Denmark for a visit. To hear people speak Danish. To go to the local super market and buy all the ingredients for Danish smørrebrød. With real rye bread, not the sweetened or factory produced Danish rye bread you find up here. Letting go is a realisation that my kids now belong here. Not just in Stockholm, but in here Alby, Botkyrka after soon 7 years. With schools and friends.

My wife and I may still have one leg in the countries we were born, but we belong where our kids grow, learn, and feel at home.