Peters Traces His RootsOctober, 1994

Druviena

We back-track a bit, and find my aunt Laura's and mom's sleep-over elementary school. (Sorting through the photos, I thought, that's odd, what's this picture of Mordanga doing here? Only when I examined it more closely did I realize my mistake. I had never noticed the resemblance to Mordanga before.)

It's now a museum, but it was closed when we were there. Here my aunt Laura is talking - again - but then she behaves! They both wanted another picture where you could see the school behind them. My mom and Laura told us stories about sneaking out of their bedroom after curfew, then hurrying back and pretending to snore when the teacher came by to check on them.

We were getting close to my grandfather's second mill, on the road to Perlu Dzirnavas (Pearl Mill). Legend has it pearls were found in the lake here. My grandparents moved there in 1907. This was where my mom and aunt Laura were both born spent their childhood.

Only a few more kilometers. Seeing how the mill in Mordanga was dismantled and run down, we all wondered what we would find. We had visited other places Laura and my mom had gone to school, lived, or worked, but these were all when they were older. Just watching them wander around Dravnieki, or the school, gesturing, talking, and laughing about what they did as kids, this was a different, a sweeter, nostalgia - innocent and unencumbered by events to come.

Happy childhood memories are special, like no others.