Dear Lydia
Now I’m writing a word.
I picked up the sauna brush from the post office yesterday along with the papers and the almanac.
I shouted your praises when I tried it. It has long bristles and such a long handle that now I don’t need to use a shovel to scrub my back anymore.
My life is nothing like it was. It’s always the same. I’ve been alone for a long time. Heikki is always out there in the bush in the winter.
My grandmother Anna’s letter to her sister in Finland, November 27, 1959. (google translated from the original Finn into English)
this ... "My life is nothing like it was. It’s always the same." ... like the sea and the sky, the wind and the rain ... nothing like it was, always the same ... my heart murmurs with the knowing of these things
ReplyDeleteLiz A
DeleteA beautiful response. Thank you very much for commenting, Liz. Translating this letter is putting me into another place - not just one of going into the past to try to understand this woman who I could not speak to when I was a child, but a more universal one of how women in general, humans in general, have similar inner experiences of knowing and not knowing.
DeleteAnd also, I'm sorry about the comments and how difficult blogs are making it for people to comment. I've tried to make mine as open as possible - yet I know that it is still a technical barrier to many. xo
Today Blogger has deigned to recognize me ... and for all the effort you put into your cloth and your blog posts, I am more than willing to find whatever way is open to leave my humble responses in return
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