A FINISHED ERA

My childhood home has now been emptied and the ownership of the apartment has changed. That was the end of a long and significant era in my life. In the last days of clearing, I found even more of all kinds of old and interesting things. I also found my old christening dress in the back of the wardrobe, in a drawer.

The key to the basement was also finally found, and there was no need to break the lock, as I had thought. The basement was full of all kinds of junk. It was fuller than I remembered. Among other things, there was a lot of clothes in the basement, more Donald Duck magazines and father’s car accessories, such as car tires, steering wheel, detergents, work overalls, etc. (My father was a car mechanic.) Even my old toys were found in the basement. So much old, long-forgotten stuff ahead. It felt like time travel to yesterday. It was a bit like rummaging through an old attic.

Parents’ wedding photos from 1969.

What I wanted to save from the basement were the photos I found (including the sixth grade class trip photo album), my old diplomas, the classic uncle Roope piggy bank from the 80s and my paintings in the old art school portfolio (a few of which in connection with this post).

Leaving the keys on the windowsill felt strange and it was hard to think that I would not return to that house again… Well, that part of my life is over now. Life changes and moves on…

My drawings

In the last few days my time has mostly been spent looking at apartments online with my spouse. We have few favorites already (and as soon as I get permission to share the inheritance, which has taken longer than expected), then we can go look at apartments and make offers.

We have also already come up with a name for our future dog after my father’s nickname: ”Ami”. We will probably get a German Shepherd because it is a smart and good guardian dog. To accompany the dog, we thought of getting a cat (I especially like cats, but my spouse has also warmed to the idea of a cat).

At first left painting school practice work from an oil painting lesson. The rest of my other paintings.

”Light and heavy”

”One died- two were injured Passenger car under the train”. Finding this newspaper clipping (9.8.1977) stopped me for a moment. This was moving to read, even though I never got to meet the couple. However, this couple that drove under the train was my parents friends. I had heard a lot about them. Mother has told me that they met with Liisa, who died in the accident, the night before. When they parted, my mother had said to Liisa normally: ”bye, bye”, to which Liisa replied: ”farewell”, as if she knew that they would not meet again.

Three generations. My older brother, grandmother and mother painted at the age of 11.

Old money I found in my childhood home. I remember these 10-mark bills from my childhood.

This money is my parents’ youth from the 60s (both one and five mark banknotes below).

Classic uncle Roope piggy bank from my childhood.

More chain letters. These are really beautiful.

Diploma from the cooking competition where I got the third place.

A cat pillow case I made myself at school. This was a very gratifying discovery, the existence of this I no longer remembered.

”Hairdresser curls” Painting school practice. A sign for your own imaginary shop.

To my surprise, I found my senior year overalls from high school in a storage cupboard . These were used in a graduation event. In Finland, the term for graduating from high school is: Abi. On that day, the graduates get on the platform of the truck, do a tour and throw candy into the streets (hence the candy warning triangle on my overalls). I remember how fun it was to design these. ”0-päivää” means 0-days and ”Ohi on” means ”it’s over”, Traditional phrase for those leaving the army, (I borrowed this phrase from them)… So yes, high school work was over… but actually that was just the beginning of everything.

Here is a message left by my brother, probably from around 1994. This was found in a desk drawer. At that time, he was dating a woman named Leeni. ”I’m at Leeni. I paid dad’s bill. I’ll eat something at Leeni.              Bye Arska (nickname)”

”Allu art school at: 16:00-18:00. Grandma takes, dad fetches (Allu’s lunch on the table)”. A note written by my mother regarding my art school (apparently sometime in the 80s… Allu is my nickname.)

IN THESE MOODS TODAY, ENJOY THE SUMMER… ’TILL THE NEXT TIME!!!