Tender Beginnings

Although the day might have seemed like just another day, to me it felt like the world had paused for a moment, holding its breath for something extraordinary. The day felt charged, alive, touched by something beyond the usual routine of life. It was one of those rare moments where I could feel the earth…

Allow

There was a time when I believed life moved in straight lines. If I made careful plans, if I worked hard enough, if I loved well enough, things would unfold as expected. I thought certainty was something you earned. But life, it turns out, has never been interested in our neat expectations. It bends. It…

Skip with me, nanna!

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 with a grin that could melt clouds, “Would you like to…

To my grandson

You made me a nanna —from the very first moment your dad placed you gently in my arms,just a minute old, soft and new,you stole my heart completely.And you’ve held it ever since. You, my little ray of sunshine,with that huge smile that stretches all the way to your shining blue eyes.Eyes that sparkle with…

All I Wanted

When I was a little girl and someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I never hesitated. I didn’t dream of empires or impressive careers. I simply said, “a mum.” That was all I ever wanted. Not just in name, but in the deepest, most wholehearted way. To love. To…

Hold on. Hope wins.

On Easter Sunday, there’s a hush in the air that always moves me. The dawn feels quiet and golden, as though the whole world is rising together into the same soft light. Shadows stretch long across the ground, the birds seem louder than usual, and in the Christian calendar it is the day that quietly…

Completely Alive

The night couldn’t be more perfect for a stroll along the beach. The breeze is gentle, and the sea mirrors its stillness. I inhale deeply, letting the scents of the evening fill my senses—the salty mist in the air, the refreshing scent of eucalyptus drifting from the trees nearby. My toes sink into the sand,…

Everyday Joys

What makes me smile? It’s rarely the grand occasions. It’s the small things — the fleeting, almost hidden moments that could so easily be missed in the rush of daily life. Simple things. Quiet things. Yet rich with warmth. That first sip of chai in the morning is one of them. The way the steam…

Learning to Dance in the Rain

Life is a continuous learning experience. One of the questions I most enjoy asking older people is what life lessons they have learned along the way. It is also a question I return to often in my own heart. In Finland, when people talk about shopping, they sometimes jokingly ask each other how much “stuck”…

Dandelion Puffballs

Have you ever gone for a walk with a small child and held their little hand in yours as they skip along beside you? Their fingers curl trustingly around your own, while their happy chatter rises and falls like birdsong — one thought tumbling into another, one question giving way to the next, their mind…