Get in, the water's fine

Since it is midsummer and everyone else went to bed, I decided to go for a little walk to see if I could get a few shots. I left a little too late though so missed better light but I didn't mind this one which was taken at the lake beach a few hundred meters from home. If you didn't know, Finland has a lot of lakes - 187,888 supposedly. Some are bigger than others and this one is 256 km² which is 99 mi². The largest lake in Finland (The Saimaa) is 17x the size of this one. These are both tiny compared to the great lakes of the world.

On a side note, even though a drunk guy did urge me to try the water before stripping naked and jumping in himself - I managed to resist the urge. So as the saying in Finland goes, I still have on my winter fur.

One thing that really isn't so pleasant with all this forest and water around though are the mosquitoes that invade like plagues every summer. At least, they don't carry Malaria like some places or Dengue like the tropics I lived in back in Australia.

We were invited for a barbecue this evening by a friend of mine and his sister-in-law was there with her husband and new born. The husband happens to be Australian also and they were curious about the last time I visited and were surprised when it has been over a decade. It is strange to think about it like that because it means that the last time I visited was 1/4 of my lifetime ago.

It is a challenge to get to Australia for us as it means going in Finnish winter time which is more expensive and, I have work at that time that I can't really put on hold. Part of running a small business like mine means, being available when clients need me and winter time is not when they take their vacations.

My wife would like to move to Australia and see what it is like to live there but, she knows that she isn't likely going to be able to be away from her family too much. While she thinks that we can travel occasionally and her family would visit also, she doesn't realize that those plans rarely work out often enough.

On top of this, both of us would have to build entirely new careers there, not easy for the "elderly" like ourselves. The only real way I see us being able to have the resources to move there is if Steem does very well and is able to provide a significant revenue stream to supplement whatever incomes we can get there. This is possible but it will take time, work, luck and likely, more luck.

Sometimes I wish we could just live a life where moving across the world is a viable option that doesn't take too much thought, but currently we can't even leave home for more than a night because of the food allergies of our daughter so, moving to Australia seems a pipe dream. Weird considering I am Australian as is our daughter. Perhaps one day.

I would like to take them to visit there though and I think that once our daughter's allergies are sorted out enough we will be able to risk at least a holiday there. A holiday would be nice, it feels like it has been a very long time since I have had a string of days off, but I am unsure if that is true. Last summer I had a week and a bit off while @galenkp was here - my memory is fading as the workload increases.

Ever get the feeling that there should be more to life than whatever life you might be leading? What if it isn't true and this is all and as good as it is ever going to get - would you be happy with that? Sometimes I wonder if I would be content if I never moved pass this point and while I think I would manage as I have always done, I don't think it is enough. These are thoughts of privilege of course as there are likely billions of people in the world that don't have half the options I do.

It is a strange world isn't it. So much for some, so little for so many others. Will it ever be different? I hope it is for my daughter, which is what I am slowly working toward - I think. Perhaps she can live in Australia and leave her parents behind and as long as she is happy and healthy, I would like to think that I'd be okay with that.

Would I be?
_{come on Steem}

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]