Sometimes I look at you, through the glass walls of the office, and wonder how it is possible that we have come to this. Being fellow workers, it all began slowly, very slowly. After meetings we began talking about our lives, exchanging information about our children, our families, our respective divorces, and we began building that trust and friendship that ultimately grew into passionate love. At first, we kept it a precious secret, only for ourselves. It was exciting, exhilarating. I remember that glorious Spring Day, just before Easter, when we met at a cliff above the sea, and when you saw me, you just opened your arms and I ran into them… how happy we were then, and for a long time too! And how did things get so bad, how did we let them get to the point of no return – I’ll never be able to answer this question, because I don’t know how two people who love each other so much can afford to lose something as precious as we had. But the fact is – we did. For a time, we made some pretence of friendship. We even went out to dinner for a few times, and we talked of everything and nothing, but never about us, or the reasons for our breakup. I always knew this was taboo for you, as you never wanted to discuss serious matters, even when we were still together. Like an ostrich, you’d bury your head in the sand and make-believe all problems had disappeared. But they didn’t, they came back to us inexorably, until they were too much to bear. Then you withdrew into your shell again. No more long talks about nothing much, no more dinners. Sometimes I think you’re afraid of me, afraid of whatever emotions I may still stir in your heart; emotions you don’t want to feel. Maybe you feel comfortable with a life that has no complications, that doesn’t bring you excitement or heartbreak, a life where you control your emotions. Because you were hurt, and you don’t want to be hurt again – or so you’ve told me. And now you are on the verge of retirement, and I’ll probably stop seeing you in the only place where our paths cross – that same office where they came together for the first time. Soon I’ll look through the glass walls and I won’t see your tall figure, your familiar way of walking; I won’t hear your voice or your laugh. If not for a rare, occasional meeting at some mutual friends’, I’ll probably never see you again. Maybe, I think, It’s for the best. If I don’t see you, who knows, I may stop thinking about you. I’ll probably stop looking at your arms and how they used to hold me, stop thinking how I ran my fingers through your dark hair, see your hands and remember how you held mine in your strong grip, distinguish your silhouette among a thousand different ones… I always end up thinking how special you were, and how there will never be anyone like you in my life. Now that I know I won’t be seeing you anymore, I hope those thoughts will wander away from my mind, so they won’t hurt anymore. I hope the memory of you fades away in the mists of time and I will stop being sad over you, and our love story. And then, only then, maybe I will smile at life again. …
Tag: love story
There’s an old saying about not going back to a place where you have been happy, and, although sometimes I succumb to the temptation, I must admit there’s much wisdom in that sentence. There are many places where I have lived very happy, intense moments, be it in Lisbon, Madeira, or cities I have travelled to. While I pass by some of those places in Lisbon quite often – never without a smile on my lips or a …
Flipping through the pages of my book Love Secrets Lies – something I never seem to tire of — I came across a few paragraphs that, in my opinion, describe particularly well the sadness of a break up. She later confided in me that choosing Tozé seemed the best for everybody. Once Miriam had made up her mind, she travelled to London, where she could face Sean one last time, scraps of paper in the pockets of her …
Amazing how I had never heard this song. I came across it when I was going through my Facebook account, as the musical background of a video with images from the 80’s TV series The Thorn Birds, based on the bestselling 1977 novel by Colleen McCullough. Anyone who has watched that series, or read the book, will never forget the most romantic, and tragic, love story between Ralph, a handsome priest, played by Richard Chamberlain, and Meggie, a girl he has …
She’s driving on an autumn sunny day, and on her Spotify playlist James Blunt’s nostalgic voice sings “You’re beautiful”. She remembers driving another car, years ago, while listening to that same song on the way to meet him. At the time they were working together on a project, there was nothing between them, or maybe only a feeling of growing trust, the beginning of a friendship, of shared ideas; somehow there was a taste of something good to come. And …
Yesterday I was zapping when I spotted a very familiar movie – the famous (at least to my generation) Saturday Night Fever, that made John Travolta famous, turning him into the idol of all teenage girls. Myself included. I decided to watch it from the beginning, and I loved every minute, recalling the long-ago day of December 78 when I went to movies to see it. I could never forget that date – not only because it was …
There’s nothing compared to the exhilaration you feel in the beginning of a love story. Whatever the season, it always feels like Spring – the sky is blue, the sun is shining and warm, and there is a bright light in your life; it’s called being in love. Falling in love Falling in love usually happens suddenly, as if you were hit by something. One day you look at a person you have known for a time, and you …
The first time they set eyes on each other had been some two months before, during her first days at the company, when she had raised her head from her work only to see a dashing young man come in and suddenly she was bewitched by the warmest golden brown eyes she had ever seen; she, who had always been partial to blue eyes, not brown, simply stared at him for some seconds, and he stared back. During that second …
She was a nun and he was the king, and they lived one of the most passionate love stories in Portuguese history. Paula was a nun without a call for religious life. Her father was an impoverished goldsmith who, facing hard times, had no option but to send two of his daughters to the monastery of Odivelas, first the elder, Luz and then his second daughter, Paula. But while Luz accepted her fate meekly, not so Paula, who rebelled against …
In Portugal we have a beautiful, tragic, romantic story that equals that of Romeo and Juliet or Tristan and Isolde…but certainly has an advantage, because this story is part of history, even if over the years it has become inextricably linked with legend. Pedro was a prince, the son and heir of King Afonso IV of Portugal. As was usual in the early 14th century, his father arranged for his marriage with an infanta of Castile, Constança, and she came …