Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.10.2018, Side 6

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6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • October 15 2018
We had been married for almost
21 years that morning when
my husband Gary rolled
over to cuddle me, putting his hand
over the right side of my breast. It was
pretty small, a tiny lump, but somehow
he managed to feel it that morning. A
painful memory – even today. It sent our
lives into complete turmoil and two years
later the after-effects still linger.
I had not known the lump was
there, but it didn’t surprise me. I almost
expected it, as I hadn’t been feeling well.
I was entering my early 40s and my life
was full of wonderful things, but I was
struggling. I was full of excitement,
stress, anger, and disappointment. I was
socializing excessively, yet running and
training for marathons. I practiced yoga,
meditation, and I was eating healthy. I
was working long hours as a hairstylist,
as well as trying to be a good mom,
wife, and friend. Giving, giving, giving.
I had depleted my energy stores. There
was never enough time in the day and
somewhere along the way I had lost
myself.
In the winter of 2015-16, I had a cold
that would not go away. In March 2016,
I was flying home from a girls’ trip to
Mexico when a nasty virus took hold.
I was fatigued and suffering an earache
that persisted for months. I walked over
to get tea for the plane trip home and
had a feeling that something was terribly
wrong. As I turned around with my tea,
the whole airport spun around me and
I lost my sense of direction. As fear set
in, I tried not to panic as I looked for
something familiar to help me navigate
back to my friends.
When I got home I rested for a day
before returning to work. Sick. I didn’t
want to disappoint anybody, but this was
not okay. I was leaving on another trip,
this time with my husband, in five days.
My ears hurt with the pressure on our
connector flight to Toronto, but on the
flight to Cuba, I felt they would burst.
After we landed I had no hearing in my
left ear and very little in my right. I tried
to keep up with the pace of the trip, but
found myself sleeping every second day.
I remember thinking that any day now
it would get better. I coughed day and
night. Man, was I sick!
I feared the plane ride home and told
Gary that if I didn’t feel better by then I
would stay in Cuba. I visited the resort
doctor and nurse. They flushed out my
ears two or three times and offered me
medication. I don’t remember what it
was – I just took it. Four days later, as
things improved, I was on a plane home.
I had totally depleted every ounce of my
energy in so many ways. I was so sick
and fatigued. How I made it home alive,
I’ll never know.
I was ready to give up life in the fast
lane, but I had no idea how. I started to
make some small changes to free up
space so I could have some much-needed
down time, but I still had a long way
to go. I had become addicted to stress
and exhaustion. I was angry at myself
and towards others who I felt had done
me wrong. I was giving all I had to my
clients, family, and friends, seeking love
and approval. But my energy tank ran on
empty most days, as I always pushed to
do more. For what exactly? More money?
More friends? More exhaustion? I was
trying to fulfill myself and was looking
in all the wrong places.
At the hair salon, I remember feeling
like my head was going to explode. I
could feel my heartbeat drumming in my
ears. I felt my heart was breaking and
fighting hard to save me. Sometimes I
escaped into the bathroom or the colour
room to get a break. I remember pleading,
“Oh God, I wish I would just get sick so
I would have an excuse to take a break.”
Words are powerful.
I was very good at putting on a mask
of happiness and showing everyone a
fun personality. Sometimes I was happy,
but a huge part of me was not. My body
was desperately trying to talk to me.
As I scrambled to find my keys every
morning, I refused to listen.
How could it really grab my attention?
It would have to be big. I would have to
face my demons and hurts and then begin
the healing process. And as that lump
was found, it hit me hard. It’s true. Your
life really does flash before your eyes. I
had a lot of work to do. My spirit wanted
the chance to be happy, free, and to live
the life I had been dreaming about. Who
or what would teach me how? Why was
I living like this? Who was I? Who did I
want to be? As my diagnosis came in, my
worst nightmare would teach me who.
The teacherMEL’S MOMENTS
Melanie Johannesson
Riverton, MB
A team of volunteers with diverse
talents and interests are busy
building the Icelandic Roots
Database. They are called to give of their
time and talents because they believe in
preserving our shared Icelandic heritage.
To continue documenting all people
of Icelandic descent, wherever we live in
the world, the volunteer Icelandic Roots
team requests everyone to provide their
link to our shared story. Included at the
website are all the ancestors and many
descendants, but living people need to
help us add in new babies, marriages,
and some people yet missing from the
database. This is a free service. Please
go to www.IcelandicRoots.com and
click on the “Join Us” tab to fill out a
“Cousins Across the Ocean” form. Fill
in your own name and family back to
the emigrating ancestors. The link to
become a supporting member and join as
a supporting member is at the same link.
Come join us on Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, and the IR Database website.
Icelandic Roots started in November
of 2013 with a file of 512,600 people
using the original work of Hálfdan
Helgason’s database. Over the past five
years, the team has added two websites,
social media, tutorials, webinars, and
an active newsletter. The first website
is a free community site with much
information on history, scholarships,
travel, the newsletter, and other special
information.
The second website is the Icelandic
Roots Database where over 136,000
people have been added to the original
database. The team consistently adds
and connects over 2,300 people per
month. The team works diligently to
prevent duplicates and to create the
most accurate and comprehensive site
on Icelandic genealogy and history
available in one location. There are over
1,700 sources of documents referenced,
13,000 photos and documents linked,
1,220 cemeteries noted, as well as many
notes about emigration information,
ships of our ancestors, passenger
records, clergy, churches, and parish
records. There are histories, books,
biographies and obituaries numbering
almost 5,000, along with special reports,
a timeline of events, and much more.
Those with supporting memberships
especially enjoy the interactive maps
feature showing ancestral farms,
cemeteries, and locations around the
world where Icelandic people live.
The Relationship Calculator is a very
popular feature where you can find
your relationships to interesting and
famous people, your “Cousins Across
the Ocean,” or your next-door neighbor
of Icelandic descent.
As of today, there are 35 dedicated
volunteers and 480 supporting members
who work to make the IR community
and websites better and more complete.
The IR team’s talents include
information technology, social media,
photography, media experts, librarian,
translations, marketing, maps, finance,
history, and of course – genealogy. The
volunteers live in Iceland, Canada, the
United States, and Australia.
Icelandic Roots registered as a
501(c)(3) organization, which is a
charitable and non-profit organization.
Scholarships for Icelandic language
study, Snorri Program scholarships,
Snorri Program grants, heritage grants,
and multiple educational activities
have received funding from Icelandic
Roots. The database site is open to all
people of Icelandic ancestry and their
immediate family members. Donations
of time, talents, information, finances,
and our supporting membership fees
allow Icelandic Roots to provide this
funding to “pay it forward.”
Our generation has the responsibility
to keep these connections alive,
preserve our shared story, and to honor
our ancestors. Any endeavor is a group
journey. With everyone collaborating
on this project, we can achieve much
to preserve and protect our history for
the future. You are needed and your
information is important to keeping our
shared story alive. Please make sure
your family is in the database. Preserve
your family story for the people of
today and those to come in the future.
Please go to www.IcelandicRoots.com
and click on the “Join Us” tab to fill out
a “Cousins Across the Ocean” form.
Working together to preserve your story
Sunna Olafson Furstenau
Fargo, ND
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