The End of a Good Day

Päivi, me and Oskari (in that order)

Today has been a really good day. Having woken up to be greeted by the sunlight this morning, the day continued with its positive theme. It's now 8.30 in the evening. I am tired (especially at the thought of work tomorrow) but feeling content nevertheless after a day packed full of good things.

I grew up in London always feeling a little bit estranged from my family. My father has no living relations, neither do I have brothers or sisters. So in England there was simply no-one.  In contrast, the Finnish side of the family is a large one (I have 21 cousins on my mother's side), but of course when I was in London they were all very far away. As I have got older, my Finnish family has become more and more important.  I just feel lucky to have one in the same country as me for the first time in my life.

 

So today was a special day as I saw one of my cousins (actually my cousin's daughter, but cousin is easier) for the first time in twenty years. We had a really nice afternoon catching up on all sorts of things and promising each other not to leave it another twenty years until the next time.



seeing beauty in ordinary things

Päivi lives in Vantaa with her partner Jani and their dog Ressu. Having spent years in a call centre for Elisa listening to people complaining and whining on the other end of the phone, she decided to start her own business, which she has now run for the last five years. It's called Lainajalat, and you can see her site at www.lainajalat.fi.  Päivi offers a service where she helps elderly people do everyday things that they can no longer manage on their own. Lots of people these days spend a lot of time wondering if they are in the right job - or in fact realising that they are not - but then doing nothing about it.  Because of that I always have great respect for people that have the courage to take life into their own hands and make a change for the better, exactly as Päivi has done.

I took Päivi for a quick tour of Somero (which now includes the Oravatupa!) as she had never been here before. One of her big hobbies is photography, and I loved the fact that she too looks for beauty in ordinary things.  For me, the ability to do this is one of the things that makes life worth living.

In any event, I have reached the end of the weekend feeling optimistic about the week ahead. It has been a day full of sun, friendship and family, and that has to be a good start to anyone's week! Wishing you all a happy and positive week, Jody.