POW #23 The "Little Oma" Edition

This picture of the week comes to you all the way from "the homeland". In 2005 we went with several friends to Europe and one of the countries we visited was Croatia. My Paternal Great-Grandfather had come to America early in the 1900's from Croatia and we still have tons of family there. We had written them a letter in advance and the one cousin who spoke english would translate it for the whole family and write back some very sweet letters letting us know we could come stay with them anytime.

I remember so vividly my nervousness as we were about to meet my relatives and there was absolutely no reason to be nervous! Truly one of my top 10 life experiences was meeting them. Despite the fact we were meeting for the first time EVER, they welcomed us with open hearts and open arms to their home and my ancestor's beautiful land. We made gestures and spoke broken English to each other while my one cousin Tony from Australia feverishly translated for us all day - the poor guy was exhausted by the end! There was lots of laughter - like when the family, so fascinated by my blond hair (they're all really dark) shyly asked if my hair was real - and some really amazingly emotional moments, like when my cousin pulled out all sorts of family pictures of my American relatives...we learned my Grandpa and Great-Grandpa had been very good at keeping our Croatian family up to date on our happenings. My cousin said "you may not have known about us, but we've always known about you and were waiting to meet some day". BOOHOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!

The family literally stuffed us with amazing home-grown food - prosciutto to DIE for and tons of fresh meat, veggies and wine all raised and grown right on their land. We never had empty plates, the adorable Grandma "Oma" and the elderly aunt (both wearing the traditional black babushka designating their widow status) were constantly plopping food on it and telling us to eat. We like to laugh that we were so full all day we had the "meat sweats"...but seriously, we really did. No, seriously.

We can't wait to go back, what an incredible experience it was to meet my amazingly loving relatives, be welcomed with such hospitality and get to see the birthplace of my Great Grandfather! This picture capture the day so perfectly, despite meeting each other for the first time, we all just seemed to adore each other instantly like only family can. I sure love that Oma.