Expat Jon takes on the world (well... Sweden)

So the day finally came where we met with other expecting couples.  We were to meet at the midwife's office with seven other couples.  This should be fun.  It would be good to hear other people's stories and perspectives. We were in the elevator and ready to go when I realized that I had forgotten my gloves.  I was going straight to work from the midwife, so I needed my gloves now.  Swedie didn't want to be late (we were ten minutes early already) so she couldn't wait for me to go back up to the apartment on the elevator (2 minutes max!) to get my gloves.  Great start to this moment!  It took me less than two minutes to get back down and somehow Swedie had disappeared.  I walked at a brisk pace in the hope of catching a glimpse of the sprinting pregnant woman that I call my wife.  No sign of her.  She's fast as hell, I guess. So I finished off my THREE MINUTE WALK to the midwife that Swedie was too stressed to wait for me for and ent...

They say first impressions are lasting.  I for one do not agree with this.  Sometimes you can think one thing about someone or something and then later realize you are completely wrong.  I found this out about Swedes.  At first glance, one could be led to believe that Swedes are a cold and unfriendly people.  They do walk around looking straight ahead and avoiding eye contact, after all.  I've gotten to the point now where I have to force out a "God Morgon" or "Hej Hej" because of the inevitable rejection when the person walks past a bit faster like they spotted a pistol on my waistband.  But I still do my greetings.  Why?  Well first of all, because I vowed to not lose my American happy-go-luckiness.  Secondly, I have yet to encounter an unreasonably rude or cold or unfriendly Swedish person. Of course you have your douchebags.  But that's a given.  I'm not counting those people.  If you do get past the unreasonably unc...

As I get closer to doing some actual parenting, I have been reflecting on the performance of my parents.   I'm sure as most people, I want to take the good things they did for me and apply it to my parenting.  This only guarantees that I will mess this kid up in a completely different way.  I'm fine with that, though.  Messing up kids is the main part of parenting.  During my reflection of my youth, I realized that my parents lied to me a lot.  I was one of those kids that thought my parents could do no wrong and knew everything.  Google didn't exist back then to prove otherwise, so I just took their word for everything. My dad was there full time up until I was 9.  You couldn't tell me that he wasn't the fastest and strongest man in the world back then.  I would argue with kids in school about how strong my dad was.       - My dad can pick up a house!       - Well my  dad can pick up... a... BUILDING! ...