Kari, their other son, knocked on my door early in the morning before he went off to school. I didn’t even have a chance to say “one sec” before he barged in out of excitement. He was only around 9 years old so I shrugged it off.
“Can I show you something?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said, covering myself with the blankets.
It was a bag of various kine stickers. He picked out the porcupine one.
“This one is my favorite!”
“Oh I love porcupines so much!” I said, “I was just in Alaska and they were everywhere!”
“Here, you can have it,” he said.
Today, I planned to go on a hike up to the mountains through Glerárdalur valley. Jökull offered to take me there, even washed my shoes and put them on the radiator overnight to keep them warm. He couldn’t believe I only had one pair.
The climb was easy even though it went through blankets of snow and I was the first one to make the path. I felt upset with myself for forgetting to bring sunglasses. Snow blindness was apparently a pretty serious thing and could happen in just a matter of moments.
After the trek, I felt like continuing to walk so I made it all the way back down to town where he picked me up. He and Lilja went to a kids birthday party, giving me the whole house to relax in. When they came back, Kari ran up to me and needed help unbuttoning his shirt.
He politely asked, “Excuse me, may you please help me?”
The family decided it would be fun to go to the hot pools, so we figured we would eat dinner and check it out. The boys set up the table and silverware without any energy of resistance. It was sort of a culture shock for me to witness in comparison to my little brother who was older than them and wouldn’t get off his computer for shit. It seemed their kids didn’t even have phones other than a couple of iPads that they could easily put down as if it were any other toy. No arguments, no screaming, no apparent addiction to technology.
I looked over at Lilja and said, “It’s as if they don’t even fight with you or raise their voice.”
“Yeah, I always say it’s a parent problem not a kid problem. We don’t have those ‘teenagers acting out’ that most parents say they have.”
After dinner, I said, “I love how you all eat together as a family.” Also something that was uncommon in my household.
“Yes, of course,” she said, “I think it is actually very important.”
“I do, too.”
Before we left for the pools, Kari showed me his room with all of his little toys and nicknacks. He played music on his stereo and made a toy airplane fly to the beat while his mother yelled for him to turn the music down.
Lilja gave me a swimsuit with shorts then we hopped in the car and drove to the pools.
As we were getting out of the car, Kari goes, “One time my grandpa was on a snowmobile and he was naked!”
“Oh my god,” Lilja interjected, “you shouldn’t be telling people that!”
Jökull bought me a ticket then we separated at the changing rooms. I met an Icelandic woman with bright orange hair who was a famous artist. She was very kind, showed me how to use the soap in the women’s shower as I couldn’t get it to come out. It felt nice to be surrounded by naked women in the sense that there was no weirdness around the human body. I haven’t been around that energy in a while. Unfortunately, that energy didn’t leave the changing room as we weren’t allowed to be naked in the hot pools.
I met everyone outside then sat in a pool with stunning views of the mountains behind me. Apparently this was an ideal spot to watch the northern lights in the winter time. I felt deeply grateful for the experience. Lilja and Jökull played ball in the water with their son, throwing it to each other and laughing when it would go out of bounds. My heart felt full watching them.
Her man would lift her up and throw her in the water. She loved him, I knew that for sure. It was all in the way her eyes sparkled in his presence. He had a protective energy for her, constantly holding and kissing her. Out of everything, those were my favorite experiences to witness—healthy love. I felt drawn to it because it was so far out of my understanding and capability to grasp. In that way, it fascinated me.
After a couple of hours, we showered and met up in the car. Kari was told to put his seat belt on, then clipped it in and moved the strap behind his back so it would be out of the way. His parents turned around to check and shot him a look.
“Ugh!” Kari grunted, then put it on correctly.
He nuzzled up close to me and gifted me a toy car.
“Thank you,” I said, resting my head atop of his. “I’ll keep it forever.”
At home, we came back to find Alvar watching the show Dexter.
“Are these yours?” he asked, pointing to a table full of various kine chocolates I gifted the family.
“Yeah feel free to eat them,” I said.
He yelled for his mom to grab him some scissors because he wanted to open the Hershey’s bar. He was as ecstatic as a thru hiker who had hiker hunger and had just come across a jackpot. He must’ve been losing his mind from sitting next to all of the candy and not touching it. I couldn’t believe he had such willpower and patience to ask first.
I went into the kitchen to tell the folks I was calling it a night and that I would start packing for an early departure.
I said, “The campground guy still wants to see me so I guess I’ll spend the day with him tomorrow.”
“You still didn’t figure out his name?” she asked.
“No, it’s too late to ask at this point.”
Alvar came running to me after over hearing I would be leaving.
“Wait… you’re leaving tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Are you… uh, are you gonna take the chocolate back with you?”
I laughed and said, “All yours buddy.”
