glade syttende mai!

today is the seventeenth of may, norwegian constitution day.

both sets of my father's grandparents are fresh-off-the-boat norwegian. (and my mother is part swedish-- which explains my inner conflict as well as my fair skin.)

people find my very norwegian last name (sounds like "dense fog" or even "spongebob") fascinating. family lore has tells the story of it like this: my dad's paternal grandparents came through ellis island (en route to iowa, talk about corn-fed). at that time, it was traditional for european emigrants to form a surname by adding "son" to the end of their father's first name. our last name would have been "jonson," or the more americanized "johnson."

however, this is my family. (have you met me?) i am erika with a 'k,' my sisters are cristina, no 'h' and anna, pronounced on-ah. great-grandpa didn't want to be just another "johnson." he took the name of the area from which he originated, and formed our last name. it means "stoned bay."

yeah, no one can pronounce my name the first time they see it. it's a pain to order pizza (i use my roommate's name or my first name). i did get teased for it in elementary school (the most unoriginal: stensvagina). but it's my name, part of who i've been since birth and part of my family's past.

if you want to talk about this further, give me a call. my number is 1-900-viking-b*tch.