Being able to communicate again felt SO amazing.

One thing about spelling though, it goes slower, and it requires some patience. To make it go faster, you skip the part of being polite, and you certainly cut through the chase. I know I sometimes sound extremely rude one of the reasons being that there are no different tones in spelling.

Sometimes you could read in my face if I am extremely angry, happy or sad but not all of the time. Many times people understand me completely wrong because of that. They translate my spelling according to their mood. It is the same way as when speaking; words can have different meanings depending on what kind of tone you use.

When serious or long conversations are needed, it is better for me to send emails. In that way, I can explain myself better and then there are no misunderstandings like so many times when spelling. Secondly, it saves me big time since spelling is time-consuming. In addition, if that person spelling with you is not the most fluent one he/she will concentrate more on spelling rather than understanding the actual message.

Spelling requires patience, sometimes a lot of patience from both ends. Then if that other person is spelling in not their mother language it is a whole other ball game with own special problems.

Imagine this; I have one board for with the Latin alphabet! Therefore, I can be spelling English with my not Finnish friends and another board with the Finnish alphabet! What is the same as the regular Latin alphabet but with an additional three letters. Most of the letters are on the same place on both board, but not all of them. Now Imagine being in a three-way conversation spelling

Finnish to one person and English to the other. Yes, it can get confusing. Many times, I start spelling to Henning with the Finnish letters position on my mind and to mom with the English one.

The most confusing case is spelling in Finnish but with the English letters position in my head. What is also very confusing is English spelling friend who pronounces the letters in the Finnish way. Talk about confusing!

It is not completely uncommon for me to lose it. Now that I´m getting older I have developed more patience (I hope), and I can handle it better. There are times when that still happens and when it does, it can feel like I am losing it completely. It´s nothing personal but sometimes I just get tired with the ongoing situation. In addition, when that happens it also shows physically. My muscles start to shake and tremble, legs go straight (thank god for the seatbelt or I would end up to the floor), teeth grinding… which I cannot do anything about it. I have no control over my body and when it goes off it stretches out (you cannot imagine with how much power). I just overflow for a moment like a broken dam. Shows what power mind has over muscles. Another scenery is that I get so; SO frustrated for not being understood that I just give up and cry. That does not happen very often though. Good thing about all of this is that it is just a passing thing that

last maybe 3 minutes (when it is very bad) but not more. I certainly do not stay and linger in it. A few seconds later, it is as nothing has happened, and life continues normally. I do not let it ruin the whole day. All people should learn that. Just to forgive and forget with everything in life and not let, for instance, some stupid argument ruin lifetime relationships.

The closer you are losing your life, the more alive you feel. In addition, the more you understand to enjoy life afterwards.

There is a saying (men can relate to this saying better than women, we can only imagine it);”It is when a mosquito lands on your testicles that you realize that there is always a way to solve problems without using violence”. One main way to solve our problems and live a better life is by communicating with each other.

Today is a great day to tell someone how you feel. Find a way to do so. If not in person then by phone, call or text, by email, use Facebook, and if none of this possibilities are not available, then just use the old fashion way and write a letter. You never know if this would be your last chance to tell them what needs to be said.

If you are lucky, enough to speak to them in person then do not forget to do so. Look them in the eyes and say what you need to say, and look them in the eyes and listen to what they need to say to you.

We are blessed to be alive today, let us seize it.

Kati