Suomi

 We are spending eight weeks in Finland (known to the Finnish as Suomi).  That is almost as absurd to type as it was for us to conceptualize.  Some of you already knew we are going, and some of you are learning it now.  It’s been thirteen years since we documented our journey though Italy in another award winning, multi platinum blog, and we figured it would be fun to do it again.  I hope we have a greater commitment to brevity, some more perspective and wisdom, higher resolution cameras, and most of all cute kiddos this time around.

Why Finland?  The reasons are manifold.  Amy (that’s Dr. Amy Claridge to you) worked incredibly hard over the past several years applying for and winning a constellation of grants, sabbatical release, and professional connections to support her ongoing research into social supports for women and families in the transition to parenthood and its intersection with maternal mental health.  Finland is known for doing it particularly well and the United States is known for doing it spectacularly poorly. 

But that’s far from the only reason.  We did a one-week reconnaissance visit last year and really fell in love with it – the accessible public transit, the ubiquitous playgrounds, the integration of apartments and nature, the food, the television, the weather, and most of all the Finns.  As silly as it might sound, one week felt like it changed us.  It changed our kids.  It changed our perspective.  And we are eager to see what eight weeks might do. 

So I hope that you’ll join us.  For our adventures.  For our foibles.  For our busy days and also our lazy ones.  For the things that thrill us and also those that disappoint us.  I hope that you see how happy our kids are here.  I hope you see how well they take care of people here.  I hope you fall in love with Finland as much as we have.  And I hope you visit.

One final note on the title of this blog.  It’s lousy.  All of the titles I came up with were lousy.  This wasn’t even the least lousy one – it was just the one I had thought of most recently when I came to the realization that none of the titles was going to be perfect.  And often when I’m unsure of what to say I settle on a pun – much to the chagrin of friends and family.  So of course it’s a bastardized Finnishization of the famous theme song chorus from a television show.  

But it also means something in Finnish –albeit a bit of a non-sequitur.  “Hei Hei” means goodbye.  And certainly the hardest part of this trip has been saying goodbye.  To our home.  To soccer and football seasons.  To the start of the schoolyear.  To certainty and comfort.  To proper salsa.  And most of all to all of the beloved friends and family who are reading this.  We miss you all so much.

As for “Munkki?” 

You’ll just have to wait and find out.

Hei Hei!

Suomalainen Claridges