With a will of its own
Life will never cease to amaze me. Here’s a story about an old oil lamp.
And just for the fun of it I will throw in a story about the painter and the baker.
Norway is a small country. Wherever I go in the world - it seems like - I run into someone who knows some Norwegian person I know.
Like that time in Harlem NYC where I randomly booked an AirBnB and ended up in the apartment of someone who knew my ONLY Norwegian friend in NYC. Or the time I started a casual conversation with a stranger in a bar in Poland and he turns out to be my cousins boyfriend. Or when you run into your neighbor in Beijing. I could go on forever.
Back in the 1900s Norway was even smaller - in terms of population of course. In the year 1900 the town of Steinkjer, located about an hour from our farm, burned down to the ground. The fire was started by the painter Aune (my family name) who was boiling glue. Bet he felt pretty shitty about that. The funny thing is though, that the first house to be rebuilt after the fire was the house and shop of baker Falch (Christians family name). You see, we go way back.
Anyway. I want to tell you about this oil lamp that I bought.
In Norway we have something called Finn.no - I guess you can compare it to an online flea market or E-Bay. I was scrolling through like I normally do, looking for treasures. An amazing oil lamp pops up on my screen and since the prize was very reasonable (170 euros) I immediately wrote the seller. The seller, who’s profile was registered under an alias, had written in the add that she lived in a remote place but that she would be happy to transport the lamp to the byers location in the case of a sale. I write her, state my interest, tell her where I live and suggest a meeting place that could work for the both of us.
She replies:
“Thank you for your interest. Of course you can buy the lamp. Let’s meet Friday. The lamp is actually originally from the area where you live”
“Oh wow, where exactly in my area?” I reply
It turns out that this particular lamp belonged to the previous owners of our farm.
“It was the main centre piece in the living room up until the 1940s. Thats when they got electricity installed.” - she explains. She goes on explaining how the lamp ended up with her, being married to a relative, and that they are selling the lamp because they are on the move.
“THIS IS JUST AMAZNIG” I yell with caps lock. “The lamp found its way back home!”
Coincidence? I think not!
Welcome home lamp.
XoXo Galadriel
