Girl Power

 I don't generally place much value on material things, except ones which bring back memories of particular times or places or people.

Russian dolls, like this one in the picture, remind me of when I used to visit Finland as a young child. Each year, before visiting my relatives in Lumijoki, we would stay one or two nights in Helsinki with friends of our family -Anja and Mauri - and their daughter Juliaana. They had a Russian doll like this one and I remember playing with it when Juliaana and I were very young, a memory which I will always treasure. Anja and Mauri are like another set of parents to me and two of the people, along with their daughter, whom I admire most in the world.

They are all the type of people who always make time for others no matter what difficulties they are facing of their own.

These days Minttu (another truly cool woman) often wakes up before the others in our family.  On these mornings she and I will sit on my bed and play with this doll together, before everyone else wakes up and our family circus starts up again.

This particular doll splits into ten. Looking at this picture, with all the different dolls which become one, it made me think that in some ways it represents what it is like to be a woman these days.

Women have so many different roles nowadays. We want to study, find fulfilling careers, be good partners or wives and also succeed as mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends. We try to maintain our homes and cook and provide and look after our children, as well as finding hobbies.  We try to do the things that women have always done but without falling into the stereotype of womanhood and limiting ourselves to an old-fashioned idea of what women should be. Which in practice means we do ten times more.

I like being a woman. I would not change that even if I could. But at times I have to admit I find it challenging to know how we are supposed to get it all right. I guess the truth is that most of us just stumble along doing the best we can. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we don't. I still hope that before I die, along with my other roles in life, someone will come to value me as a wife, even if I have to wait a long time for that to happen.

In any event, I have had the fortune to meet some really wonderful women in my lifetime, many of whom are still in my life. So to all you women out there, juggling with a hundred different roles and even more expectations....it may be complicated these days, but being a woman means being multi-facted and strong. Whatever happens in life, no-one can take your dreams away from you. This post is for you.