Back home in Futog, Serbia

This time again the final leg of my trip was to visit my family in Futog, Serbia. 

As, I get older, I feel a certain urgency to go "home" as often as I can. When I was younger I felt, I will visit next year, or maybe the year after, but now this urgency to go back to my birth place is really strong. Maybe it is because I want to catch up with what I missed by leaving my home, my family and my friends in 1963, or maybe it is because both my brother and my sister had triple heart bypass last year, or maybe it is because many of my old friends have already passed away and I do not want to miss anything anymore, or maybe it is just because I have free time to think and  travel. I do not know for sure, but when I am back there, I feel safe, I feel at home, I am at peace. Each time I am there I visit all the places I used to enjoy, I visit my old friends and I join my brother in his daily chores like taking care of pigs and chickens and working in the fields - all jobs that I left behind when I left home in 1963. Was my leaving everything behind worth it?

Here are some photos from Futog, Serbia:
Home in Futog, Serbia - street side
Chickens in the back yard

The backyard of the home in Futog. It is the same as it used to be over 100 years ago. And here are the piglets. We raised pigs every year for food and money.
One year when I was about 10, I decided to make a lot of money for my family by raising piglets. I picked a piglet for breeding, named her Lady, and I raised her by sharing my breakfast with her. Unfortunately, she turned out to be barren.
My brother, Elemer, cleaning the chicken





 My brother is doing the prep work for lunch. It is his job to catch, cut and clean the chicken and his wife will than do the finishing detailed cleaning work and the cooking of the lunch





Nevenka with the future lunch




 

My sister-in-law, Nevenka, is taking the cleaned chicken to start the lunch. She will then cut the chicken to pieces to make sure there is enough for everyone regardless of how many people come to lunch.  As, always, it will be a wonderful feast.


Nevenka gathering vegetable for lunch
Nevenka making pasta
The Feast

 Had I not left Futog, these pictures could have been of me just the same. In a way, I miss this life.

Did I do the right thing for leaving? I am not sure.....
Location: Futog, Novi Sad, Serbia

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