What we experience as an ordinary part of life may be something another generation sacrificed everything to protect. On your day of independence, my beautiful Finland, my heart always returns to you. It returns with pride, but also with tenderness. Because freedom is never just a word when you know what it cost. It is…
In the Stillness
Sometimes the traditions we cherish most become even more meaningful in the harder years. There are nights when exhaustion settles into my bones, yet sleep refuses to come. And it always seems to happen at the most inconvenient times, like now, when Christmas is just around the corner. A season that sparkles once a year,…
The Beauty of Advent
Some things are received more deeply when we make room for them slowly. There is something about Advent that reaches into me very deeply. Every year, when it comes around again, I feel it before I can properly explain it. It comes quietly, like a soft stillness settling over my soul, like the first pale…
Raindrops Keep Falling
Sometimes we discover our strength only when we have no choice but to use it. In Finland, we have a word for resilience — sisu. It means the kind of grit that carries you through when willpower alone isn’t enough. I like to think I have a fair bit of it, but yesterday morning, as…
Nordic Living
The more we let go of what distracts us, the easier it becomes to recognise what truly nourishes us. I’m sitting here with a mug of tea in hand, simply contemplating life. The steam curls upward, carrying with it a quiet reminder that even the smallest rituals can anchor us. Today was a day off,…
The Silent Clock
As we grow older, the years behind us do not disappear; they become part of who we are. Where do the years go? They slip through our hands so quietly, and yet they do not disappear. They live on within us, just beneath the surface, waiting for the smallest thing to bring them back. A…
Next To You
As love deepens, excitement can soften into something quieter: the feeling of being safe with one another. Yesterday was one of those days that start normally but end with your heart in your throat. My elderly dad had a fall. It ended well, thank God, but at the time it was frightening. The ambulance came,…
A Bird with Two Homes
Even after deep loss, life can still make room for something new. Some journeys are so vast they seem almost impossible, and yet they happen quietly, without fanfare, written into the lives of those who simply keep moving between one world and another. That was what came to mind when I read about the small…
Ink from Pain
Healing does not erase the wound; it changes the way we look at the world. I recently joined a writing group that meets at a local church, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’s become one of my favourite outings now, this gathering of minds and hearts, of stories and pens. There’s…
Skip with me, nanna!
Growing older teaches us that giving between generations was never one-way. We were just walking, hand in hand, the way grandmothers and little granddaughters do. The day was mild, the sky wide and blue, and her tiny fingers wrapped around mine with the kind of trust that softens your soul. “Nanna,” she said, looking up…
