Birthday Wishes

Yesterday was my birthday. It was the first year that neither of my parents were any longer able to call and say happy birthday, so in some ways felt a bit odd. At the same time though I had a lovely day with friends on the coast and in the sunshine.

I was also presented with a birthday cake and was able to make a birthday wish. In Finland the wish is made when you blow out the candles, where as in England it is when you cut the cake, so I took the easy solution and made the same wish twice.

I would love to let you in on what I wished for but of course everyone knows that birthday wishes have to remain secret or they won't come true!

Let's just say that I was very grateful for the company of lovely people yesterday... and if my wish is granted at some time in the future then I will certainly let you know.

In any event thank you to all those who made yesterday a special day. I wait with anticipation to see what the next year of life brings with it. If there is one thing I am certain of it is unlikely to be boring!

This One is for You Dad!

I decided that today I should dedicate this post to my Dad, whom of course I still think about every day and whom I miss more than words can describe.

Dad was someone who was obsessed with numbers. He could sit for hours and play with figures, adding, dividing and multiplying them...and he would find them anywhere. In my wallet I still have five pound notes which my Dad had kept because the serial numbers were special to him in some way. He had dated each of them and kept them for the last thirty years before he died. Now they are one of my most important possessions.

He especially loved the way numbers worked together. I think he found their logic and predictability comforting, in ways that he never found about about life itself.

If my Dad had still been here then he would have loved today, which is one of the reasons why this post is dedicated to him.

Today is exactly a year and half since this blog started (on 20 January 2012), it is the weekend when it will reach 100,000 hits and also the 300th post that I have written.

My Dad would have loved all those significant things happening at the same time and he would have made me repeat them to him until they were clear in his head. Then he would have sat with his calculator and come up with some sort of theory about them.

He was a complex, eccentric and unique man who was not always easy to be around but who loved me - and whose love I carry with me every day of my life.

I am not completely clear on my own views on life after death, but I still hope that my Dad is out there somewhere watching over me. No one can prove that there is another life waiting for us after this one, but no one can prove that there isn't either. So Dad, if you're reading this I hope you enjoy all these big numbers and you are sitting with your calculator analysing them somewhere up there in heaven. Thank you for being the person you were. I miss you more than you will ever know.

Somero Community

Someone asked me the other day why I bothered writing this blog. I got the feeling that the man who asked was the type of person who thinks that things in life are only worth doing if you are paid for them. Actually I have known a lot of people like that, but not many of them are in Somero, which is probably one of the reasons I enjoy living here so much.

In fact the real answer to his question is simple. The first response is that I enjoy writing and taking photos. So in my view it makes sense to write and take photos! The second is that Somero is an important place to me. Not only is it home to me and to my children, but it is also somewhere where the word "community" still means something. And perhaps this blog is one small way to celebrate that.

We live in a world where families don't keep in touch as much as they used to. Where single people sometimes don't talk to anyone else for weeks. Where people can die and no one can notice for days or even longer.  Community is something which has disappeared in many of the places where it once used to be.

But there is still a community here in Somero. Maybe I can try and explain that a bit. For example, this evening I ordered pizza from the Didim pizza shop in town, and after I had paid and left the shop, the guy chased me out to the car because he had seen the children and wanted to give them lollipops.

Earlier today I went into the bank (Säästöpankki) to pay the mortgage and just as I had done so, the lady who made the transfer asked me if I had enough money to last for the rest of the month. She didn't need to do that, she just wanted to make sure we were ok.

Over the last week I have been on my own with the children and have been invited for lunch or tea three times by friends in the town. Anyone who is a single Mum of young children will know that this does not happen everywhere, and will also know what a luxury that is.

Somero is a place where you can be friends with your son's teacher and the bank manager on Facebook and where you can telephone the library, sport's centre, doctor's, chemist or bank and you are answered by a person and not a machine.

This same week one of my neighbours appeared at the front door with a box full of blueberries she had picked from the forest. Just because she thought the children would enjoy them.

And on the street last weekend I bumped into two people I hadn't seen for a while. Both asked how I was and actually stopped to hear the answer. How often does that happen these days? They also told me their news, and both encounters finished with a hug.

That is what I mean when I say there is a sense of community in this town. The examples above are just some of the reasons we feel at home living here, and one of the reasons I enjoy writing this blog. And don't plan to stop any time soon!