The new world

I'll always love you & make you happy

If you will only say the same

But if  you leave me to love another

You'll regret it all someday

A second cousin of mine recently exposed me to a recording of my great-great grandfather recounting the story of my Swedish matriarchal heritage. He told of the Dahlberg family's arrival at Ellis Island, and how they rode across the heartland of America in a boxcar till they arrived in Minneapolis. From there they set across the prairie but were not able to find the friends from Sweden they had hoped to settle near, and were forced to winter south of their intended destination. They settled in southwestern Minnesota, a place that has always felt to me like the shoreline of a vast and unrelenting ocean - a place that also feels very much like the lowlands of Sweden. This story came to mind when considering "You Are My Sunshine," the plight of any immigrant seeming to reflect something of the sentiment in the song. One leaves their homeland with hopes for something better, but sometimes even greater hardship awaits - sometimes the origin cannot really be left behind.