{"id":3156,"date":"2016-01-11T12:58:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T20:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com.php5-21.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com\/wordpress\/?p=3156"},"modified":"2016-01-11T12:58:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T20:58:51","slug":"surprise-scandirayvia-epilogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/surprise-scandirayvia-epilogue\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

I\u2019ve been shockingly tardy in wrapping up my ScandiRayvia <\/span>pieces. As 2016 starts, it\u2019s time to finally bring my reportage on my trip to a close. You know, as I completed the trip six months <\/span>ago.<\/p>\n

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I have one final surprise for you, Dear Readers, if you\u2019ll indulge me on this tired topic just one more time.<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s roll back the videotape to Friday, June 26, 2015. Perhaps you remember the day as intensely as I do.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve already talked about hearing about the SCOTUS decision while on a boat tour on the Stockholm Archipelago way back in ScandiRayvia #13. But what you may not know is that I left out a big part of the story of my day. Unless I\u2019ve spoken to you about it on the phone or in person, you haven\u2019t heard this part until now.<\/p>\n

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So. I\u2019m having a great time at the M\u00e4larpaviljongen bar that evening with Joakim Zetterberg\u2019s friend Neil. As you may recall, Jay very graciously hooked me up with Neil and his very nice friends so I would have someone to celebrate the just-announced and life-changing Obergefell vs. Hodges<\/span> SCOTUS decision.<\/p>\n

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\"Here's
Here’s the cool bar where we met (shot from the bluffs of the island of Soldermalm).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Here\u2019s the part I left out of that evening:<\/p>\n

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At one point, Neil turned to me and said, \u201cYou know, I\u2019m not Swedish. I was born in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cNo you WEREN\u2019T, \u201d I said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYup. I grew up in Plano.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWell, I grew up in Bryan. I went to college with a raft of kids from Plano.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Har, har, har, isn\u2019t that funny, small world, etc. And that would have been that. Except, for some reason I still don\u2019t really understand, Neil went on:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI wasn\u2019t born in Plano, I was born in Dallas. And my mother is from a little town called Blooming Grove.\u201d<\/p>\n

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I paused.<\/p>\n

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After a minute, I slowly said, \u201cWell, that\u2019s\u2026 odd. That\u2019s where my family is from. That\u2019s where my Iveys are from.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Then Neil paused. For a long time. Finally he said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cUh\u2026 my grandmother was Thelma Ivy from Blooming Grove.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I found my newest Ivey cousin. In Stockholm. Neil and I share a great-great grandfather. He was a veteran of Gettysburg (and many other Civil War battles) with the colorful handle Hinton Clinton Gaither Ivey\/Ivy (1844-1921). Which makes Neil and I third cousins. Neil has lived in Stockholm for many years, where he has a super cool job that I can\u2019t really even tell you about.<\/p>\n

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Of all the things I expected to find on my ScandiRayvia trip, a Texas cousin was definitely not<\/span> among them. It was one of the oddest coincidences of my life and one I\u2019m extremely grateful for.<\/p>\n

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So if any of you see Neil on Facebook, be nice to him, or I\u2019ll start singing show tunes.<\/p>\n

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And there\u2019s not much else to tell. The trip home was very long but happily uneventful. And after three weeks away from my beloved LA, here\u2019s how I felt when I got off the plane at LAX:<\/p>\n

\"kiss<\/p>\n

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I have no idea when I\u2019ll get to take another trip that compares with ScandiRayvia, but I do know I\u2019m extraordinarily fortunate to have been able to take this trip and see so many places I\u2019ve dreamed about seeing.<\/p>\n

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NOTE: There is a certain fluidity to the spelling of the Ivey\/Ivy surname.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Average Rating: 4.7<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 177<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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