Status Updates From Notes from an Island

And, that final summer, something unforgivable happened. I grew afraid of the ocean. Big waves no longer meant adventure, just anxiety and worry about our boat and indeed all boats out at sea in bad weather. It wasn’t fair - even in nightmares, the sea had always been my unfailing salvation. Danger pursues me, but I jump in and swim away and I’m safe and never come back. This fear felt like treachery — my own.

“As everyone knows, every dwelling in Finland needs a kotipihlaja - a household rowan - at the corner of the building. It’s an important tradition, a sign of peace and concord. Our …rowan is the island’s only tree. When it was young it was torn apart by splinters from the blasting, but it survived and spread its roots and grew into a strong shrub which gradually merged with our beach rose and formed a jungle.”