I’ve known for a long time that my father’s side of the family has roots in Eastern Europe. I know that my grandmother had two Yugoslavian parents who emigrated to Oregon City in the early part of the century. But, beyond that, my knowledge is fairly limited. This is probably a result of the fact that I don’t ask my family enough questions. Or that my grandmother does not answer question very well. Or, I should say, she does not always answer them very precisely. Her stories are very circular. And as we know, circle have no real starting point and no ending point. At least, no logical one. By grandmother’s narrative style aside, I have a chance to visit former Yugoslavia, which is now the nation of Slovenia which is located on the east of Austria, north of Italy, and west of Croatia. I would like to use this limited form of “mass” communication to thank my Grandmother Bena for getting me in touch with her sister (who I had never met) and her brother-in-law and supplying me with so much information on Slovenia and making my visit there a real possibility. I have sent letters to some cousins in Slovenia and will hopefully receive a response from them in the upcoming weeks. I hope to see the villages of both my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother. They were from different villages and did not meet until they both arrived in Oregon City. I am excited about visiting Eastern Europe and getting in touch with my roots. So often in my youthful rebellion I feel like my life and experience is an island. That I am somehow separate from my family and those around me. The limited information I have discovered already has been eye-opening for me. I can only imagine more great things to be learned as I move closer to actually going to Slovenia and discovering parts of my past I never knew about. I really hope this works out.
