I was hap­py to be in­vi­ted to write a blog for Päi­vä­mies in 2020.

I grew up at Jäm­sä opis­to, then mo­ved hou­se a few ti­mes, and fi­nal­ly set­t­led at Lo­hi­ran­ta, Po­sio, which is where my hus­band co­mes from. I have al­re­a­dy li­ved here for more than half of my life.

My home is in the count­ry, in true ru­ral pe­a­ce. We live right next to the lo­cal mu­seum of Po­sio, which is a good and ins­pi­ring place for a per­son like me in­te­res­ted in tra­di­ti­o­nal crafts.

We drive 36 ki­lo­me­ters to the clo­sest store and ot­her ser­vi­ces. We the­re­fo­re need to be cre­a­ti­ve or draw on our emer­gen­cy sup­p­lies if we run out of milk or some ot­her stap­le food. If my mot­her-in-law or one of the neigh­bors can­not help, we just have to do wit­hout what we need or chan­ge our plan. We get out mail in the mail­box that is on­ly 100 me­ters away, and in the sum­mer we have the ice cream van run right by our hou­se!

Kids tra­vel 40 km to school and the same dis­tan­ce back dai­ly. There are on­ly a coup­le of ot­her child­ren in the vil­la­ge, but there are about six­ty adults. My hus­band works in log­ging and tim­ber buil­ding. He lo­ves to spend time in the fo­rest.

I hope I can work at home as much as pos­sib­le even in the fu­tu­re af­ter my 22 ye­ars as a stay-at-home mot­her. I have had the world’s shor­test and best com­mu­te to work. I am trying to find ways to con­ti­nue that even in the fu­tu­re.

I like to pon­der about things even qui­te pro­found­ly, I read both for fun and know­led­ge, and mu­sic is an im­por­tant part of my life.

In our small be­lie­vers’ com­mu­ni­ty there are many tasks for each per­son – I have ex­pe­rien­ce of kitc­hen crew, te­ac­hing Sun­day school and being the con­tact per­son for opis­to work. Opis­tos are re­al­ly close to my he­art, as I have per­so­nal ex­pe­rien­ce of two of them! My pa­rents wor­ked at Jäm­sä opis­to all their li­ves, and I stu­died at Ra­nua opis­to for a win­ter ne­ar­ly 30 ye­ars ago.

Text: Sal­la Pät­si

Trans­la­ti­on: Sirk­ka-Lii­sa Lei­no­nen

You will find the ori­gi­nal blog post here.