European Photographer | Slovakian Family Love
This post follows on the heels of my post last week about my visit to Europe with V to meet his family. In the post, I mention ‘family’ in quotes because, in V’s Slovakian reality, ‘family’ is a far-reaching descriptive word that includes the people you grew up with: the people that help craft your memories and direct your life.
Janna and her son Joey (I’m pretty sure they Americanized his name for my benefit!) are a part of V’s extended ‘family.’ Janna grew up together in the same apartment complex with V and his sisters, and they all have a whole slew of shared, cumulative memories of childhood, tweenhood, and teenhood together. I feel like growing up in United States is different, at least in my lifetime. Like, you don’t necessarily see your neighbors on a daily basis, and you certainly don’t usually consider them a part of your family. But this community of people in Bardejov — V’s people and their entire neighborhood? They played together on the streets every evening… rode down the elevator together every morning… walked to school together Monday thru Friday… adventured together every weekend. Parents worked tremendous hours at local factories or traveled abroad for months at a time to bring home salaries in a more valuable currency; as a result, these local children helped raise one another, with the older ones looking out for the younger ones day in & day out. They’ve grown up with bonds that I know I can’t understand but appreciate infinitely, and seeing them together during our stay — laughing so much, catching up, connecting again after years — was one of the most meaningful parts of our trip.
Anyhoo, look at all this cuteness. I mean, seriously. Love love love.
