It’s a few minutes before eleven pm. I’m tired. And worried. I think of my son Afonso who’s in hospital, recovering from his second operation – actually by now mostly waiting for the results of the microbiology tests he has underwent to determine what caused the infection in his operation scar. It’s been more than two months since his accident during a rugby match and two since his first operation. It’s been tough on him and we, his parents, are …
Tag: holidays
We all have a very special place in our hearts; it may be the house where the whole family used to get together for those seemingly endless holidays of long ago; it may be the beach where we started going in our childhood and where we still meet the same friends and acquaintances, summer after summer, spending hours talking of our respective lives during the rest of the year; or it may be the hotel where we have spent the …
My darling boys I’m writing to say that I miss you. On these first holidays without you, when we won’t be together for a single week, not even for a few days, I have to confess that I miss you. A lot. This doesn’t mean I’m not happy that you are travelling to the places of your dreams. On the contrary. I am thrilled that you have are grown, that you have become adults, that you can …
The empty nest syndrome is mostly described as the feeling of emptiness that invades parents when their grown children leave home, to live by themselves or to marry or work abroad. First time Having been a divorced mother for more than ten years, I remember having a similar feeling the first time they left to spend a whole weekend with their father after we separated. So far, I had only been apart from them during my business trips, and …
The month is June and she is spending a few days on the Algarve as she has done for almost as long as she can remember. She loves these first days on the beach, even if the wind still blows a little bit more than it should and the water temperature chills her bones when she dives in. She feels the warm sand under her feet and looks at the sea before her, at the waves that softly wash onto …
There are moments in life when painful decisions have to be made and you have to learn to accept them and move on. An example is when, due to circumstances in your life, you have to part with a house or apartment you’re attached to. My first house I experienced this very early in my life when we had to leave our beloved house in Mozambique. We knew we’d be leaving the country anyway, but due to the feeling …
So it’s over, and we are now on the plane back to Lisbon. After what has undoubtedly been one of the trips of my life, if not “the one”. Even if my feelings about these last days are still in a turmoil and I know it will take some time to fully understand how I stand regarding my past, there are some conclusions to be taken. First of all, this trip was the fulfilling of a dream. For years …
It was a winter afternoon, cold and damp, with heavy clouds announcing rain. She felt restless, but she very much wanted to see “Out of Africa”, recently arrived on Lisbon cinemas, so she agreed when he suggested they go and see it. As usual, when the lights went out he searched for her hand. She let herself hold his but she felt ice cold. And then, as the beautiful, intense, romantic and ultimately sad story unfolded before her eyes, she …
There it is. Another month of August is over. No other month leaves me with such a nostalgic feeling of time gone by too quickly. No other month has ever given me this need to hold time prisoner in my hands and make it stop. And it has been like this for a long time. Not back in Mozambique, though. August there was a winter month, even if our winter there was mild for all standards. But since we came …
Just to say these words fills me with a nostalgic feeling of days gone by. Precisely last Monday I was commenting with my younger son: “ First of August…you know, Pedro, my wildest dream is that I could time travel…”. He immediately asked “Mom, which time would you travel to?”. I smiled and replied “Well, I would probably take two different sorts of trips – one to periods I’m very interested in, certainly the Middle Ages…and then I would go …
