I stood at the gates of eternity. Not metaphorically. Not in some dreamy, poetic sense. I stood there — suspended between breath and no breath, between the beating heart and silence. Between earth… and heaven. The cord of life has always been fragile — delicate as silk, invisible as breath. Mine thinned to almost nothing….
Tag: survival
Cancer Diagnosis
I’m the kind of person who remembers anniversaries — not only the joyful ones, but the ones that mark life’s deep turning points. I’ve always been this way. Certain days settle into my bones and refuse to be forgotten. They become quiet markers along the road — places where life changed direction. These moments help…
My Pink Ribbon Day
Even after the darkest night, morning comes again. After weeks of helping care for my elderly parents, I have been carrying a kind of tiredness that sinks right down into your bones. And yet, this morning, in the very early hours, I found myself wide awake. Melbourne was putting on quite a show outside, with…
The Fire
Written by Jaana M. H. JokinenTold by my grandmother, Hilja MariaMarch 1913, Joroinen, Finland It was a cold early spring day in Joroinen, in Northern Savonia in the eastern part of Finland, where my family lived. Joroinen is often called the “Paris of Savonia”, because in the 1700s the noblemen there mainly spoke French. Even…
Second Chance
Be grateful for the life you have been given, and let that gratitude change how you live it. This year, I have found myself in circumstances I would not wish on anyone. Circumstances that have shaken me, humbled me, and brought me to a place of deep reflection. Yet it is often in life’s most…
Life Defining Moments
We are not promised tomorrow, but while we are still here, every ordinary day is sacred, those we love are worth holding close, and every unfinished page is a gift from God. There are some moments in life that do not simply live in our memory. They mark us. They sear themselves into us so…
Winter of Discontent
In seasons of survival, self-compassion becomes a necessity, not an indulgence. Lately I have found myself living in a season I would never have chosen, yet one I seem unable to hurry through. It has come quietly, almost unnoticed at first, and then all at once it was simply there, settling over my days, my…
Apples of Gold 