Mija and Johan fell in love when they were 11 years old

Camp Halvik outside Solvesburg began as early as 1928 with the goal of giving children an unforgettable summer two weeks of sun, swimming, sports and play. Mega and Johan Holgerson’s camp was unforgettable in a completely different way.

– This is where we met, as they say when we sit at home in the wonderful villa outside Karlshamn.

We met the couple early one morning, and at the breakfast table they were joined by their children, Natalia and Nova. They will soon be dropped off at preschool, while Mija and Gohan go to work, which they also share. Together with Johan’s family they run the Best Western Hotel in Karlshamn, where Johan works as the hotel manager and Mija works in the reservation and accounting system.

It’s like they can’t get enough of each other.

– That’s right, they say with a laugh. We enjoy ourselves very well together.

The couple met when they were 11 years old

But let’s go back to that magical summer at Camp Halvik when the two 11-year-olds formed a loving bond.

– At that time, this was the look I chose, and Johan looked good. Of course he still does it, says Mija.

What they remember from camp is the tingling feeling in your body when you love someone, and the feeling is mutual. They lived only a mile apart but that was enough to make meeting difficult.

Johan says: – I asked a friend to call Mia and break up with him. It was about my shyness, I found it uncomfortable to talk on the phone. The biggest challenge I faced later in life was to overcome this shyness and dare to speak in front of people.

Of course Mija was disappointed, but it passed quickly.

A few years later they ended up in the same high school.

Mia says: – I’m getting curious about Johan again.

We were together all through high school

Love blossomed again and the relationship continued throughout high school.

On one occasion they went out for a walk in the surroundings of Johan’s parents’ house outside Karlshamn. Suddenly Johan stopped next to a large house and pointed.

“We’ll be living there in a few years,” he said and looked at Mija, who nodded in agreement.

But something will happen before they are there.

After middle school, they started at different high schools and then the relationship ended again. However, they found it difficult to completely let go of each other.

-We followed each other through mutual friends.

When Johan turned 19, Mija asked one of her friends to call him, with the ulterior motive being that she would pick up the phone and wish him congratulations, as a surprise.

It fell flat.

– Mija says: – You didn’t even hear that it was me.

Love reignited

The next day, Johan was having a birthday party and some of Mija’s friends were going there. Mija was going to take her friends when the party was over. She was standing outside waiting in her car.

Then Johann’s father, Michael, came out.

– You can’t sit here, come with me, he said to Mia, who hesitated.

Then he took her firmly on his shoulder and led her into the house.

– She remembers feeling embarrassed.

However, this coup led to renewed sentiment. But there was a problem. Mega and his friend decided to move to Barcelona and look for work there. A promise is a promise, and a week later she was reluctantly on the plane to Spain.

– I already knew from the first day that I would soon be home again, because I missed Johan. Two weeks later I returned to Sweden and it was Johan who picked me up at Malmö airport.

She got engaged in 2009

Since that day 14 years ago they have been inseparable, and on New Year’s Eve 2009 they got engaged.

– When I got back to our apartment, Johan had ordered a three-course dinner from a restaurant, and I felt like something was off. As has been emphasized, it is nothing else. When we were about to have dessert at twelve o’clock, he took out the rings and asked me if I wanted to propose to him. It was really romantic,” says Mija.

They planned the wedding during their first joint trip abroad to Greece and on July 13, 2013 they said yes to each other at Halarid Church. They bought a house in Karlshamn and renovated it, but it wasn’t the place they really wanted to live.

Johan looked at Hemenet at regular intervals, and it happened on a Friday evening. The house he and Mia decided to live in when they were 15 was up for sale!

Johan threw himself on the phone, called the broker and made him an offer. The next day he received word that the seller, an elderly woman, had accepted the offer.

Relationship test

What they bought was an overgrown lot and a house screaming for complete renovation.

There was no time to start because they bought a grocery store in Karlshamn at the same time. Profitability was poor and workdays usually lasted twelve hours or more.

– Our employees will have a salary in the first place. If we had anything left, we should be happy. Better yet, we had families who could support us financially if things got really bad for a month.

The store also became the true test of their relationship.

-We never actually argued. Rather, it brought us together because we are both equally stubborn and refuse to give up. At the same time, we learned an incredible amount running a business together.

Johan and Mia work together

They didn’t have time to renovate their new home until three years after they bought it. Most of it was demolished so that only the frame remained and from there their house is now built.

Today they have a living space of about 300 square meters, a wine cellar, a swimming pool and other facilities.

– They say we got good help in replenishing our families.

Johan’s family owns the property where Scandic previously ran its hotel operations in Karlshamn. When Scandic closed, the question was what would happen to the property?

After much thought, the family decided to continue working at the hotel, but it would be on a smaller scale as Johan and Mia would be included because they would be selling the shop. The hotel business immediately expanded, and what was supposed to be small in scale became instead a company with about 30 permanent employees and the same number of seasonal employees.

-We enjoy working together because we are just alike. When we decide to do something, we don’t give up until we succeed. Johan is also always very positive if I doubt something. “We drive the car and solve it, and then we do that too,” says Mega.

Then they agreed on one thing:

-When we are free, we don’t talk about work!