STAVANGER - a foreigner's home

 As I strolled with my son the lonely streets of down town Stavanger this late afternoon a few thoughts came to my mind. This town has been the center of my life for the last nine years; it has become familiar by the weekly time I spend there while I work in the middle of it all; I have seen my life unfold in front of those views and  seasons that change day by day usually form strong gray to light gray and now and then with some sun and snow.

A walk around Breiavatnet always pretty

Perhaps the seeds of my early appreciation of this town were planted in my heart by my ex husband who loves his town and showed me with pride the beauty of his own birth place, but I found that with the years I have developed my own view and appreciation of this place by my own interaction and by my own rooting to the place I now call my home and that has given me the experiences and the scenario to become the person I am.

What amazes me the most is that I have been able to find the hope of life in a place that so many consider so gray and unbearable do to the weather conditions, for certain I appreciate much more the days of sun Norway brings to me or that I seek abroad, yet there is a familiar comfort in the gray days of Stavanger and a strange appreciation of the gray beauty I can only attribute to my own  softness and perhaps craziness...

A true Norwegian

The last six years of my life this town has even more than ever acquired a more spectacular meaning, it is here where I form the life of my son, it is here were he is rooted and where I get to do my job, striving to live up to the expectations of making my son a good human being and use my gift of motherhood wisely whilst I find ways to not  forget myself while handling the ups and downs of life.

The meaning of our lives lies in our hearts and it doesn't matter where we stand, life will only make sense when we are at peace with our choices and our reality. Stavanger is my current reality and my choice and in it, lie infinite things that make my stay special. Places, views, memories, daily realities and people that have made my journey memorable.

In the heart of everything, we still get to discover new old things within the old view, like the little Bishop's chapel besides the Stavanger Domkirke, what a beautiful and simple chapel, with amazing charm and acoustic.  

There is no doubt I have built a life here without wasting it much complaining about what my life could have been elsewhere. No life is challenge proof and  to have conquered the loneliness times and challenges that life had to offer me here make me even prouder to have stick to this place, because the view did get much clearer, beautiful and better once I knew how to stand on my own two feet.     

There will always be places in this town that are dear to my heart and memories that were built in those places. As to the future, the world remains an open place but one must live the present fully,  yet knowing that in blink of an eye life can change direction when the right time comes to continue building our lives. I am proof of that.

From Stavanger - another day not wasted.