We were going for a walk on a Spring afternoon that felt like an early summer, and he told me about his father. He’s such a smiling, carefree person, but as he talked, I saw the sadness in his eyes. He had a happy childhood and early teens. When he was about 17, his father abruptly decided he wanted to divorce his mother. For years he had been having an affair with his personal assistant, and apparently, …
Tag: son
I drive and I listen to my Spotify list, and I hear the first sounds of “Airport”, a song by The Motors I heard back in my teens, and I think how appropriate it is for these days of my life. Although it’s not a ballad, “Airport” is a sad song, about parting, about putting distance between two people, about saying goodbye. Yesterday I just left my elder son Afonso at Lisbon’s airport – he was flying …
It seems impossible, but it’s been two years since I stepped on Lisbon airport and boarded a plane. In August 2019 I travelled to Madeira, as I’m doing now, and little did I know what would be hitting us in a few months’ time. Looking back, these two years have brought many changes to my life, and I’m not just talking about lockdowns, social distancing, wearing masks and feeling there’s a threat hanging over our heads all the …
It’s coffee time at work and a colleague is telling us how he slept badly due to the fact that his little boy (aged four years old) woke up crying in the middle of the night terrified of some dream he had had. My colleague says this happens often and he and his wife have to let the boy sleep with them, as he won’t stay alone in his bed. All of us parents sympathise of course – who hasn’t …
Giving life was undoubtedly the most intense and overwhelming experience I’ve lived through as a living being. It’s not easy to describe it with words. Pregnancy It all began when I knew there was life inside of me, after winning the battle against infertility. I was a few days late and was holding my breath and hoping this time it would be for real. It was only a few days after that we had the courage to buy a pregnancy …
I’m putting the dishes in the dishwasher and I hear some piano notes. My son Afonso is playing. I smile and I think of a time, long ago, when he was five and asked to take piano lessons at nursery school. We bought him that small piano as he had to practice every day at home. Which he did. His teacher had said he was very good at it and he played a song at the school’s Christmas party …
After lunch, the old patriarch sat on his reclining chair as he did every day of his nowadays so predictable life. I may be old, he thought, but I still enjoy a good meal. As he closed his eyes, he thought of the coming Christmas with some trepidation – after all this would be the first Christmas with his two great-grandchildren, and at such a lively age, both one year old! The little girl living in London, he didn’t see …
She was by far the most beautiful girl in the village: tall, statuesque, with thick dark tresses and bright green eyes. She was always the belle of the ball, even if her 1,70 m made her taller than most local boys. But she didn’t mind, as she paid them little attention: she dreamed of one day finding a tall, handsome Prince Charming that would sweep her off her feet and take her away with him to see the world. She …
“Blue Eyes, Baby’s got blue eyes, Like a deep blue sea, On a blue blue day” – so goes the beautiful song by Elton John that always makes me think of my elder son. My own Blue Eyes was a much desired, much longed for baby. On the very happy day that he was born I looked at him and told everyone “this baby will have blue eyes” – everyone said no, it’s just the “milk” (supposedly all newborn babies …