Every year our family spends 10 days or so at our lake house in Finland. This is not a random choice as my beautiful wife Maarit was born and grew up in this watery land of thousands of lakes. (She also reads this blog from time to time so I will earn some serious Brownie points for the prior sentence.)
This year I only managed to eke out a long weekend at the lake as I was working double time during June. Nonetheless it was a welcome break and I was able to cram in my usual regime of fishing rowing biking swimming sauna and beer. As Maarit’s tastes are too refined for beer and the kids are still a bit young this leaves my 81 year-old father-in-law Harto as my prime drinking buddy. This suits me just fine because since my Finnish has not improved much in 21 years of marriage it leaves plenty of time for drinking.
The Finnish lake house has been an important part of growing up for our kids now 9 and 11. They have learned to fish on the lake and then clean and cook their catch; they’ve learned to row and kayak; they’ve learned how to build and roof a small house; and they’ve learned how to prepare and take a sauna. Most of all they have learned how to survive ten days without Wii Playstation or shower. To their great surprise they have learned how to operate a wood-pulp based output device which permits advanced story-telling and requires little power to operate other than a dexterous manual maneuver from right to left.
This year was also the year I was planning to correct one major hole in Walter’s education. His sister Mariana now 11 learned to ride a bike on the soft dirt roads along the lake and now happily rides with her dad. So I explained to Walter it was high time for him to complete this essential part of his education. He was not enthusiastic. I tried a variety of tactics. Legal reasoning: “Any boy who can waterski mono at age seven and score five goals in a league soccer match must be able to ride a two-wheeler” – this is what a criminal lawyer would call a lesser-included offense. Practical fatherly advice: “One day a cute girl will ask you to ride home with her from school and you will wish you had learned how” – Walter reminded me we live two blocks from his all boys school. Finally the ultimate argument: “Your sister can do it and you can’t.” Bingo out we went.
Lance Armstrong will be pleased to hear that there will not be a new serious contender in this year’s Tour de France and I must admit that Walter was not thrilled when I failed to catch him before he skidded into a nasty nettle patch but I am proud to report that he will not be the only boy who cannot ride a bicycle.
My hard work done for the day I returned to perspiring beer with Harto in the sauna.
Finally the ultimate argument:
I have also had the opportunity to learn about the joys of a sauna. My wife’s grandfather the Old Finn had a sauna in New Hampshire. Although I still wish to have the experience of a sauna in Finland I am happy that I can at least have the experience. Unfortunately my wife’s grandfather passed away a few years ago at 89. The sauna he made by hand still lives on. I should also mention that the bottle opener in the sauna still sees a lot of use.
The connection to Finland for some reason surprised me. I lived in Finland for two years (town of Lahti) and I have very fond memories of the Finnish sauna among other things: I learned to drive my first stick shift there on the many roundabouts in their streets (in the dead of winter). As someone who has always worked I struggled for the first time in how to occupy my day; I picked up the game of squash and learned how to do aerobics in the finnish language. I took Finnish courses but found immersion into the culture was the best way to learn. On the flip side I taught conversational English to high school students. Now having kids of my own I wish for the day that I can take them back and expose them to a great country.