This is absolutely gorgeous, Catherine. I wanted to highlight every sentence!

I have an unfinished novel about the women in my own family — my Finnish grandmother in particular — and I’m stopped cold by the enormity of it. I received a grant based on a couple of chapters and an outline but it’s still languishing. Why did I think I was good enough to write this? Do I understand the dynamics of her abusive marriage well enough? She divorced him in 1944 and moved away. Unheard of in those times and in her society. Then, when he was dying of alcoholism, she went back home to care for him until he died. I’m an old woman now and they’re all gone but the real story is about Finnish copper miners in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during a long, destructive strike and how relationships and marriages were destroyed, along with their jobs. It’s more than half finished but I haven’t looked at in more than three years.

Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. I look forward to reading more of your stories. And being inspired.