New Beginning Former Post Falls Runner Found Love, New Life In Sweden

How far would you go to find yourself?

For some that journey can be a frightening inner-experience that tests the boundaries of self-worth while looking for a fresh start and a new beginning.

Along the way, you battle personal demons and evaluate your place in the universe. Or, sometimes you just need to get the heck out of Dodge.

Cressie Anderson-Nystrom spent her whole life working hard, going the extra mile to stay on top of her game. It was that attitude that made her one of the best cross country and track competitors at Post Falls High School in the early 1990s.

“I had a real animal instinct to win when I was at Post Falls,” said the 1991 graduate. “I can honestly admit that I was very good at the time but lazy. I never wanted to practice.”

Regardless, she pushed herself more, trying to please everyone but herself. She won a scholarship to George Fox College (now University). She was driven to impress her coaches and new teammates and put herself through some grueling training to make sure she was up to collegiate standards.

“I trained very hard and became faster than ever,” she said. “But when I moved away from home, I lost interest. I gained 15 pounds.”

The animal instinct was gone. And her health took a tumble.

Illness and injuries during the next 2-1/2 years forced her to drop out of school.

“The summer before I started at GFC, I got hepatitis and mono. Fun,” she said. “It was like I would be better for a week and then the next be flat on my back. I couldn’t compete my freshman year and got real depressed.”

Then, the summer before her sophomore year , she trained hard and became fast even with the extra weight. A water skiing accident in Bend, Ore., with her then-fiance ended any chances of athletic competition. While attempting to kick off a ski, Anderson-Nystrom fell and severely bruised the cartilage in her hip.

“It has never been the same,” she said. “I lost my scholarship, lost interest in school, lost interest in my fiance. I became depressed and dropped out of school and moved home temporarily to mommy and daddy. That wasn’t the best for my self-esteem.”

At home she put herself on the road to recovery, starting with ending the relationship with her fiance.

“As soon as I put that behind me, things started to improve. I became a new person,” she said. “I became eager to study and get a degree in something. I got rid of the guilt of hurting him and moved on.”

In the fall of 1994 she enrolled at the University of Idaho and studied journalism. It wasn’t long before the love bug bit and her resurrection began.

While walking through the lunch room, she made eye contact with Gunnar Nystrom “the most beautiful guy I’d ever seen,” she recalled.

Nystrom turned out to be a Swedish exchange student who was only there for one semester and had to return after Christmas. Cupid’s aim was true and within a short time, they were dating and Anderson-Nystrom was making plans to move to Sweden.

“We decided that I would become an exchange student in Lulea (north of Sweden, on the east coast). I was extremely nervous to move. From the beginning, we had planned on moving back to the states so that Gunnar could get a job. Our plans changed quickly.”

The name of the changed plans is Emma, who was born four years ago in August, exactly one year before Cressie and Gunnar married in a tiny chapel in a village called Jackvik. Even after the wedding, Cressie suffered culture shock and was reluctant to cross the language barrier.

“I didn’t know any Swedish,” she said. “ I could count to 10 before I left the States, and I learned the alphabet.”

She had a couple of friends who spoke English with her, but they had their own families.

“I was home alone all day. Some of the ladies I met refused to speak English. I went home crying. Tears. Tons of them in five years. There were so many misunderstandings, saying wrong, embarrassing things. but I can laugh at myself now.”

Anderson-Nystrom has overcome her speaking fears and her only problem communicating now seems to be when she comes home for a visit.

“My friends swear I have an accent,” she said. “But it is hard switching gears. The thing that is tough about speaking is being spontaneous. If you have a joke, you have to think about it and by then it may be too late.”

The one thing learning a new language taught her was to not be intimidated. Some people argued with her and attacked while she was trying to translate. Now she is assertive about it.

She also adapted to the new holiday traditions while also trying to pass hers to Emma. But things such as Thanksgiving have stayed back home.

“I tried to celebrate it,” she said with a laugh. “But it was silly doing it by myself.”

They do not foresee moving back to the United States anytime soon and Anderson-Nystrom seems stronger in her Swedish surroundings.

She has found her inner strength through motherhood and learning to take on her new life in her old athletic ways - full steam ahead.

“I love living here, and I wouldn’t want to trade my life with anyone,” she said. “The challenges that face me daily have made me very strong, and I can stand up for myself. I’m not easily put off by language barriers anymore.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

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