To celebrate mother’s day this coming Sunday, here’s a taste of Finnish family life.
Prologue
Dad and brother have been out to get a chain saw and a wood chopping machine. Brother (soon almost 5 yrs) and sister (7 yrs) are nibbling on their before-bed snack. Brother seems very pensive.
Brother: Mom, I have changed my mind. I think Dad is more wonderful than you. [An apologetic glance at Mom.] I mean, Dad does all that work. … [Beaming] …with all those machines! [Runs to lift the chain saw.] See Mom! I can lift it. I can lift it!!!
————
After two days of moving logs and splitting them, both Mom and Dad are in need of a rest on Sunday evening. After supper, sister and brother have decided to build a helicopter out of a card board box that came with the chain saw. (The choice of vehicle is inspired by the female character Kaja of Ryhmä Hau (Paw Patrol), and certainly, the ability to fly is handy in many a rescue operation.) Dad goes to take a nap and Mom is resting in the next room, but starts to listen more attentively when the following exchanges drift to her consciousness.
Sister: [Very assertively] Regardless of how hungry you are or how much you need the toilet, you still have to rescue the people. Like if you are a fireman.
Brother: That’s right. We’ll rescue all of them!
—
S: No, it is all thanks to Mom because Mom gave birth to us. And Dad was needed too.
B: Yes that’s right! Dad was a hero when he fetched the chain saw and the box and now we can build a helicopter out of it!
B: We’ll do it together!
S: No, we’ll co-operate.
B: That’s right, we’ll co-operate.
—
B: What is that button?
S: That is the emergency button, if we need to land it says beep, beep, beep and then we can land. That is the rescue button
and that is the food button if you want to eat and that is the drink button. And the rest are for getting in the air.
B: So what do I press now?
S: First you press this and then that, and then you pull here and press that and well… maybe I should do it. Hey! Clouds, they are so white we’ll go through them, Oh! That was so beautiful.
[Meanwhile in the room next door, the cat jumps on the bed with a grunt. It turns around a couple of times, finds a comfortable spot with its head on Mom’s chest and regally accepts strokes with a purr.]
—
S: Oh no, the steering rod came off!
B: Well luckily the wings did not come off.
S: True, the wings are the most important.
—
B: Which button do I press to land?
S: Not yet, not yet, you need to go through there, look here comes a ray of sun!
S: Press that, we’ll go down full speed, look my hair is floating about!
S: Just try. You don’t need anything else than self-confidence.
B: I’ll press this to go up.
S: Now go down!
B: Now we are further up.
S: Now we are on the ground.
B: Yes, we’ve landed!
In the aftermath of landing and getting off the helicopter S hurts her toe, comes crying to Mom and nuzzles up to be comforted. Cat exits in a flash. After a while a sound of chopping is heard from the kitchen.
M: B, what are you doing?
B: I’m preparing a surprise. You mustn’t come here.
M: Ok, just be careful.
B: Yes.
B enters with a glass in his hand.
B: Hey S, this is for you, I made it to cheer you up.
M and S look at the glass, which is filled with chopped sausages and water.
B: [Beaming] It’s sausage water! I invented it myself!
S: Thank you very much, I um… maybe I um…
—
Next day Mom is fetching S and B from day care. S has whizzed off to the car, but B is in a pensive mood again.
B: You and Dad were probably really bored when you did not have us … I guess you did not have anything to do when you did not have us … I mean when you did not have any children to play with.
M: We are very happy to have you.
B: You know Mom, this life is really quite nice when you are in this life.
—
So Cheers! to all those most important people in our lives. Let’s enjoy each other’s company while we can.