A few words

 I had the most wonderful aunt. An aunt that made sure to take me to medieval fairs and markets when I was younger. An aunt that was the only one in the family that knew about the band Eluveitie and in her work as a priest led many teenagers through their confirmation by being a game master and doing role playing games. ( I was really envious that we didn't have that kind of confirmation studies around here). She knew her Tolkien by heart and since she read Harry Potter in Swedish, two days after the final book had been released in English she phoned me up and said "I know that you don't read the books, but I know that  your friends read them in English so now you have to tell me who survives and how it all ends". 

So many rounds of shopping, going to concerts, opera and the movies. And as a niece in the same size and with a shared love of pink I was lucky to get so much clothes from her. I am sad that she didn't move back to Falun earlier so we could have had some more time, I had even planned to bring Bilbo and read it loud for her, despite me not liking Tolkien at all. But the smile when we greeted her when she arrived and we told her that was home in Falun, even on the same street where she lived when she lived here, and when you in a sudden burst of clarity said "how long should I have it like this" makes me think that she decided to let go, now that she had come home and was sure that she had us around not just for yourself but for her husband as well. And of course with her sense of humour and being an Uppsala person at heart she made sure to hold out and not leave on the last of April, but a few hours in on May 1st.

As a costumer she also meant something for my development. This is a photo from the midnight premiere of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I am wearing an ill-fitting  dress made out of cheap cotton. She was dressed as a hobbit.

This is her at her Lord of Rings-themed 50th birthday party a few years later, and I made Eowyn's moruning gown for her (she didn't want the high neck or veil though). This velvet dress and the Arwen dress that I made for myself was the first time that I realized how important being careful when cutting and pressing seams were, that sewing was something more than just feeding pieces of fabric through a machine. When we cleared out their apartment two years ago I found this dress, even if it was missing the gold underskirt, so I brought it home and have it among my costumes as a very loving memory of her.