03.The important mentors who made my Epileptic Journey possible. (Article 5 of the history of my epilepsy.)

                                                                                                          

  

 Four sisters: Almida, Elsa, Annie and my mother Olga

and my cousin John Eric

Undoubtedly, much of my life or subjective well-being occurred due to the presence and influence of women and that this phenomenon in large has its roots in how my childhood was like. The most unconditional emotional support I received from my mother for almost six decades, very truly thanks to the fact that it was my mother who faithful to the Bible caused my painful birth process leading to epilepsy.

My mother, however, was not the only woman who influenced me. When my mother and I in October 1940 came home from the hospital in Landskrona, it was my mother's younger sister Annie, who took care of and looked after us both for a few weeks until we had regained our strength after the painful birth. Annie who lived and retained her adorable personality until she reached the age of 94 lived most of her life in a house on a few rocks in the village Ellös on the Swedish west coast island Orust. She meant a lot to me, and we kept in touch until she died. Her name and memory are passed on to my oldest daughter, Annie.

Despite my lifelong contact, and my emotional dependency with my mother and Annie, it was their eldest sister Almida that mattered most during my childhood and youth. Almida was the first emancipated and unconventional woman who impressed me in my life. She was married to Arthur, who was a musically gifted wrangler. She addressed him lovingly with their family name ‘Hakansson’, but said always respectfully ‘Arthur’ when she talked about him. Uncle Arthur never asked for equality, but subordinated himself during a long and seemingly uncomplicated life to the matriarchy that existed in his world.

It was not just me and my siblings who looked up to Almida. Everybody did, her husband and son, her eight siblings and so did amazingly enough my father. In my home at Alnarp, there was a classic male-dominated lifestyle with a submissive spouse / mother who never received or asked for fair treatment. I was 5 years old when we moved to Alnarp and Almida helped us to decorate and furnish our new home. I had two years earlier been dethroned by my father / sister, and I now got the opportunity for a mental compensation when Aunt Almida asked my father to pinch jaw when he tried to instruct her how to put up a curtain. This memory etched forever. Aunt Almida and my father got along fairly well, but from that moment it became clear to me who had the authority and courage.

Everybody loved Almida. Unfortunately, she worked herself to death as a banquet cook at different estates and manors in the center of Scania. She died suddenly of a heart attack. She was 65 years. ‘Hakansson’ lived for another two decades. 50 years ago It was to aunt Almida, I went after I had seen DR David Ingvar in Lund and had been informed that I had epilepsy. Almida reacted with the apparent peace and the strength that was her hallmark and convinced me that life would go on as usual. My immediate feeling was a disappointment, since I had high expectations for her ability to solve problems ...  Her reluctance to let herself knocked out, a good dinner and a drink which she had flavored herself with herbs, made that I could go home with the certainty of mental support from my mother's most important ally, despite the dram. It was a secret between me and Almida.

As if that was not enough with my mother, Annie and Almida, they had another younger sister, Elsa, whom I had relatively little contact with, but who was constantly in my thoughts and fantasies as a kid. I was in love with Aunt Elsa, who was the most beautiful woman I knew as a child and I adored her attractiveness and lovely smile, which she kept throughout her life. With a childhood that hence was strongly marked by four sisters, who in an almost magical way liked and complemented each other and in combination gave me both social and emotional support it's no wonder that I felt myself calm and safe in dealing with the women who come in my way. I definitely think that my childhood women were a prerequisite for my successful and unscathed survival during 10 years in Spirellas female domination.

To my mother and her sisters' influence, I would add the prominent complement of my cousin John Eric in Borgeby, who was the son of my fathers eldest sister. When I was 10, he introduced me into the world of sports. He played soccer and was orienteering. He was / is 11 years older than me, and it was in his home that I for the first time read Idrottsbladet and became acquainted with Idrottsbladet and Torsten Tegnér, All-Sport and Edwin Ahlqvist and it was John Eric, who took me to my first premier league soccer game between Malmö FF and Helsingborgs IF. John Eric was a socially gifted conductor, and he had the opportunity to fulfill his own unique destiny in Kockum’s Shipyard, the largest workplace in Malmö where he developed his leadership as President of the union, which in turn led to the mission of the national board of the Metal Trade Union.