US born and bred is something Americans say with great pride. Only half is true for me. I spent the first 25 years of my life in the US but my Swedish mother brought us up on Swedish food, holidays, language and culture. She never felt accepted into American society and this outsider feeling was passed down to me.  Thinking of my home country brings up many warm memories yet there is always the critical eye of my mother viewing from a distance.  This is a series about my conflicting perspectives of my place of birth.