Kolonia Rogozno, Poland…my cousin escorted us to my father’s village to meet one of the few living relatives of his generation! She still lives on the same farm down the road from where my father did almost 70 years ago. Obviously it’s not the same place my father may remember…time changes everything, but his land remains untouched, an Aunt’s land was donated to the church and is now a simple chapel, an Uncle’s plot has been sold to another family, and so on…but this last survivor we met today still lives in the same spot!

It was like being connected back to another time…this simple woman spent her whole life here; she could still recall the 1930’s and 40’s like they were yesterday… We spent time talking about how she played with my father as a child, we tried to understand how we were cousins, and she lit up when we showed her pictures of people from Chicago that she has not seen since 1944!

I channeled those so many vintage memories I have heard so much of and wanted to understand life on the farm first hand..I fed the pigs (I of course stepped in slop) and I walked and gave water to the cow!l

As if that wasn’t enough, we went to the old church that my entire family once travelled miles to attend. My grandparents were wed there, my father baptized there, and my extended family spent holidays there! A stunning brown wood structure with metallic steeples and a humble yet beautiful interior!

How fulfilling to be able to witness all this, it sheds so much light on so many things…especially whom my father is because I can for the first time see where he came from, what shaped him, and how he began his life!

This voyage only keeps topping itself with amazing discovery after discovery!