Legacy Episode with Taimi Nilsson, the Matriarch of my Family
By Åsa Nilsson | Aug 02, 2024
My mom, the coolest woman on earth, is my guest this week. She is one of those people who sits still, listens to everyone around her, offers thoughts when asked, doesn’t overshare, is as chill as a cucumber, and could definitely have been a spy for the CIA. I still wouldn’t put it past her!
Is this a result of her childhood? Very possibly.
Mom is now 88 years young, with 5 children of her own, 10 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren, with friends and loved ones all around the world. I have been begging her to be on the podcast since I started this journey, and it was always a ‘no’. Then it became a ‘maybe’. When I told her that her voice really matters, her stories matter, and others want to hear about her very interesting life, she finally agreed. YEY!
Listen in as we discuss Mom’s life from the age of 5, escaping an active war in Finland with her 6-year-old sister to begin their new (albeit separate) life in Sweden, up to the point of our family relocating to the USA in 1973. (I hope to have another recording completed with her to bring us from 1973 to today. We’ll see!)
And oh, what a journey she has had.
Enjoy my greatest hero, my mother.
Xx,
Åsa
GUEST: Taimi Nilsson
DRAWING: Marcus Gunnarsson/ https://www.instagram.com/marcuscgunnarsson
WHERE CAN YOU FIND TAIMI?
Out in the sun, reading a book, drinking her coffee, and enjoying every moment that life presents her with.
IN THIS EPISODE I TALK ABOUT:
- Recording voices and stories, why is this legacy work?
- Mom moved from Viljakkala, Finland to Hjo, Sweden at the age of 5 (1942) with her sister Hilkka who was 6 during World War II.
- Red Cross boats traveling across the Baltic Sea during the war, why weren’t they bombed?
- Identification card/passport around their necks and their dresses that they wore. Mom still has her dress and Hilkka still has her ID card. (I show moms dress on the video portion).
- What was it like for mom to be separated from her family and be moved to Sweden as a war child?
- Birth mother wanted the ‘girls’ back to help with finances at home but my moms foster father wrote a letter on their behalf and said ‘No, the girls will stay in Sweden in order to get an education or a job’. (A better chance at a better life for the girls).
- Mom, Dad, and my sister Anneli went back to Finland for the first time since mom left in 1958, 17 years later, what was that like for mom seeing her mom and her brother for the first time again?
- “Molotov-Molotov” what my mom would scream when she heard planes flying over as a child in Sweden.
- As a child in Finland mom remembers having to run into the forest with white sheets and hide under them so it looked like snow so the bomber planes flying over wouldn’t see them.
- Moms personality style is very chill and she does not overreact, she waits for information THEN reacts, does this come from her childhood?
- Mom is a bad ass, rode a motorcycle to work, took her captains license, became an airplane pilot! Loves to learn, to this day.
- Moms first flight to Oslo, Norway with her friend Goldis, having to make an emergency landing in Karlstad for more fuel!
- Why is milk and rice a luxury for my mother?
- 1973 my family moved from Sweden to NewYork, USA. Mom had to take care of everything herself because dad had already moved. Imagine moving across the world with 5 kids from the ages of 5-14 and not having any help? UGH!
- Why does my mother think we are ‘shit kids’? 🙂
- The feeling of belonging.
- How does mom as an 88 year old see the world today?
- Why does she choose to stay in America even if she says Sweden is ‘home’?
Mentioned in this episode:
- Tant Gun Jansson and her entire family.
- ASEA, (ABB) https://global.abb/group/enSinead Fine, Tarot for Women, https://tarotforwomen.com/
Contact Information for Komeil Asli, Podcast Production Manager.
Freelance Graphic designer, UI/UX Designer and Front-end Developer.
To find out more about working with Åsa and Thomas, reach out via our website here: https://moremosstothepeople.com/contact/
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Thank you so much for listening!
Xx,
Åsa
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