She looks out of the window. It’s raining outside, as it is raining in her heart. She remembers an old song by Leo Sayer “It’s raining in my heart”, but then it meant nothing to her, as her life was full of sunshine, no heavy clouds on the horizon. Unfortunately, it now seems so appropriate. Forty years Forty years, she thinks. Forty years of love with a man, youthful years shared, then a life built together, the happiness of …
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We crossed paths many years ago, when I was a university student of 18 and he had already finished university and was beginning his career as a researcher and University professor. A different kind of friend He was some five or six years older than me, but it made a difference at the time. We met during some holidays in Madeira, when I was experiencing one of those summer passions that came and go as fast as a tropical …
In my teen days it would be unthinkable to stay at home on weekends unless I was forced to – until I reached a certain age my grandparents would be very strict with my outings so I would stay home on Saturday afternoons sullenly watching TV, while my friends went to the café or to the movies together. Later on, when I gained some freedom, there would always be some interesting program waiting for me, and no rain or storm …
Lately I have come across two stories about pandemics: one in the highly interesting TV series “The Hot Zone” on National Geographic channel, that tells the story of the Ebola virus and how it was discovered in Africa in the seventies; the other, the new, unputdownable third book in Arturo Fuentes’ saga (so far only published in Spanish También los demonios ocultan secretos, meaning “Demons also hide secrets” in English), where an unknown, highly virulent disease comes back from the …
I always say life is the greatest storyteller of all. If you are willing to listen, people will tell you the most amazing, unexpected stories. It happened to me today. I was having a manicure in the usual place but this time it was a different girl. All the manicurists there are Brazilian – they are considered to be very good professionals – and as usual we talked. After some inconsequential chat she began telling me stories from her …
Life is seldom simple, and neither are mother-daughter relationships; as much as we may love our mothers, and they love us, it always seems complicated. At least in our family. For many years you fail to understand why it is so. You try, you try hard. And then one day, suddenly it all becomes so clear, and you finally grasp it, and it becomes so much easier to understand – and forgive. Old times Take Granny, for instance. …
When our children grow up and start spreading their wings, at times we mothers feel sort of “abandoned”. Of course we want them to be independent, free, autonomous, but we really love it when they give us a sign of their love, when they show, even by a simple gesture, that what they feel about us has not diminished one bit – it has simply evolved, as they have. A few days ago, my younger son Pedro presented me …
Today, like so many times before, I pass by our wedding place, that wonderful, old manor house that stands in the midst of the Sintra mountain, surrounded by the dark green of centennial trees. Again, I see the whitewashed walls and the imposing gates and at the bottom the small chapel where we were married. We were among the last couples to be married there, remember, as soon afterwards the Church decided all marriages had to be celebrated in the …
The neurosurgeon disinfects his gloved hands as he prepares for the surgical procedure. He has done this so many times – he has operated on countless patients, seen this scenario so many times before him. The team – his team – all dressed in green, the patient in deep slumber lying on the operating table; the preparation, and then the first cut and all he concentrates on is his purpose, his superior purpose of helping God make someone, who is …
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 …
