It is finally the time to leave Finland. Tomorrow morning we have to get up around 5am, get into our full packed cars and drive 360km south to Helsinki where the ferry is waiting to take us to Germany. Up till now we have done packing, packing and some more packing in the hope to get as much of our stuff as possible to Germany. It actually mostly worked out however my precious books have stay behind until my parents can take them next year with them in late summer. Looking at our cars it appears that we have done some tuning work to lower them as far as possible. No, it won’t be an enjoyable journey, the cars are so full that our seats had to be put more to the front, my wife will have her seat full of stuff and to make it even less comfortable she will have to carry both bunnies on her lap. Nathan’s seat looks like a cave, surrounded by boxes filled with our belongings (no need to worry, everything is fixed to their spot so nothing can move in case of an emergency full brake).

We have done all kind of different strange work since we arrived. Preparing some fire wood for next spring, fixing my grandparents tombstone and checking which poor trees will be cut down next year by my father. My dad is really good in cutting down trees but he really doesn’t like finishing the wood working as my mother in complaining for over twenty years that the firewood is always too big for the different wood fired ovens. We also got our boat out of the water and carried it to our little boat shed. As the boat is made out of real wood we had to do some extra work with it such as drying it first for a week and then applying some flaxseed oil to preserve the wood. The boat has been handcrafted few years ago by our neighbour who passed away sometime later, making it the last handcrafted boat in the area, perhaps even in whole of west Finland.

The past days have been restless. Awaiting our departure in the cottage while watching nature preparing for autumn. It has been getting colder here, only rarely the sun peeks through the mist which is hanging heavily upon the lake during most of the day. Somehow it feels like it is time to leave, start anew somewhere far away from the cottage, from Finland our old home. I am watching my father walking around our beach, in his own way saying goodbye to his little paradise. He and my mother will be back next summer whereas I will be most likely not be able to see Finland and the cottage for a couple of years, depending on my work.

I say farewell Finland, you have been my home for the past seven years. Life has been not always easy here but I met my wife here, Nathan was born here so not everything was all that bad. With our moving away I also take away one possible future burden away from you, Mother-in-law will be terrorizing Germany next time, not you Finland.