A Pier of Peace

Today we visited a truly special place I stumbled upon online just a few days ago. Sometimes social media feels like nothing but noise, but moments like this remind me why I still value it. Every now and then, it reveals hidden treasures.

For me, this place is nothing less than one of God's masterpieces. A lake—Svärdsjön—whose shape twists and bends like a careless sketch, with a slender peninsula reaching far into the water: Höganäsbadet. Barely five meters wide, sometimes even less. As if nature itself had drawn a single, wavering line straight into the lake.

As we walked along it, I stopped by a small bay. I just stood there, listening to the murmur of the waves, feeling the icy water lap against my feet. Very icy. Through the violet shade of my sunglasses, the lake shimmered a deep reddish-orange, like a painted canvas.

There is something about water that always cleanses me. Perhaps it's because my star sign is Pisces, perhaps it's simply my nature. But near water, I feel renewed. The wind carries away my worries, the waves rinse off the heaviness, and the sun dries my soul the way my grandmother's garden once dried her freshly washed white sheets—bright, crisp, and flawless.

Stepping onto the wooden pier drifting on the surface, I briefly imagined I might fall in. But then again, nothing bad could really happen there. At the far end, I dipped my feet into the freezing water, and inevitably the infamous shark scene from Jaws flashed into my mind—a childhood trauma of sorts. Then I smiled. Here, my biggest risk was probably being startled by a passing moose.

Lying back on the pier, letting the water rock me gently, I thought about how beautiful life can be. My smiling, beautiful "baby" was sitting beside me—though she hasn't been a baby for six years now. Still, to me she always will be. My big girl, who surpasses me in almost everything: charm, kindness, stubbornness, even laziness. I have a love, too—far away, yet closer than anyone has ever been. And I have a future. I have hope.

Of course, the everyday tasks and worries haven't disappeared. But now I face them with a smile. I welcome the challenges, instead of shrinking from them as I once did in another life.

The world is beautiful. The world is colorful. The world is good.