My Summer Vacation

 

Another school year has started and when I wrote the title of this post, it reminded me of how many times I had to write an essay about the topic and of the many times I used to have my students do this when I used to teach lower levels. I realize that it must have been a tedious task for students to accomplish, however, for the teacher reading it, it was quite pleasant to see how the pupils spent their time away from school.

A better title for this post is perhaps: My Vacation During Pandemic Times. This would be a tricky one. I wonder how many people would be truthful and say that they didn´t stay home safe and sound. To each his own.

Anyhow, my vacation was exhilarating. I met some great people and met up with others whom I already knew and got to know them a bit better. I also visited so many different places in Brazil and abroad.

The first woman I met was Conceição Evaristo. She took me on a excursion through the alleys of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro. It was thrilling, sad and thought provoking all mumbled and jumbled in each backstreet that we visited. What am amazing woman with such a remarkable mind.

The next person was my all-time favorite person, Haruki Murakami who showed me throughout different cities of Japan how important women are in the lives of men. However, when he started his talk, I thought he was rather chauvinistic, totally the opposite. Just love him more and more.

After leaving Japan, I came across a monk named Marcelo Barros and a pastor named Henrique Vieira who were delighted to share the emails they exchanged at the beginning of the pandemic during the month of May with me. In each email, as they became closer friends, they discussed the issues we face in Brazil with the inequality and dishonorable government that we have now. In a nutshell, they talked about making the world a better place. It was inspirational.

Back on the road again, I met Scholastique Mukasonga, visited Rwanda twice. Here I need to confess that I had a few nightmares after seeing some of the horrors of the Rwanda genocide. Two trips weren´t enough. She has brought me two more trips to go on. So back to Rwanda I shall go. What a heart-rending and courageous woman.

Another Brazilian crossed my path, Jefferson Tenório, with him I travelled to Porto Alegre, Brazil and was shown just how racist people can be and some other issues in the Brazilian society. Some moments were tense, but I appreciated the knowledge.

To wrap up my final days off, I met a young girl named Lisa Jenn Bigelow, who took me to a rock camp in the Michigan woods where I witnessed the issues teenagers face. We tend to forget how rough it is to be a teen as we become adults. The music was amazing, too.

Most importantly, I got to know my mother better and we travelled to Portugal when she was a child and I also visited some family members who have already passed in various parts of Brazil and Portugal.

At the end of the day, my vacation was incredible.

Written: January 27, 2021 Stay home. Wear a mask. Be safe.

Photo: Meire Marion

Dad´s Side of the Family

 

First, I would like to thank the people who have helped me gather all the information: my cousin Cristina, my aunt Neuza, my cousin Valeria and my second cousin Neide. Without their help, the facts in this post would not have been possible.

My grandpa was named Luiz and my grandma Gracinda.

Grandma Gracinda was born in Pinhal, Portugal. Her father´s name was Francisco and her mom, Maria Antonia. They had 8 children two of whom died before the age of one and the other six lived long lives. One of grandma´s sisters, Mercedes, was born with Down Syndrome and at the time the doctors said that she wouldn´t live over 30 years of age, however, she died at 54 which was a medical wonder at the time. I had the pleasure of meeting my Great Aunt Mercedes. She loved holding my hands and caressing my long nails painted red. She was a prankster too. She faked her death several times. In the 80´s, it was more common in Brazil to gather the family at home around the person’s deathbed. Ana, her sister, the one who took care of her, called all the family members and the priest (more than once, if I am not mistaken) to pray while she passed. When she noticed that the room was full of people, she would take a deep breath and yell “Surprise”. I used to laugh whenever that happened. The last of the sister´s to pass was Great Aunt Ana , she was well into her 90´s. Grandma Gracinda was a wonderful cook, not only Portuguese cuisine but also Italian cuisine. My parents used to tell me that when I was a toddler, I would always go to my grandparent´s house at meal times and when Grandma asked whether I had eaten, I would lie so I could eat her wonderful pasta dishes. (At my house we ate a lot of soup). I loved spending time with her and in my teen years, after coming back to Brazil, I would go over and we would talk a lot. She was a big woman and had saggy arms. I know that I would pray for God not to give me her arms and, guess what? I have Grandma´s arms and also her cooking skills. Grandma Gracinda died on January 31, 1989. She had been suffering from dementia due to diabetes. She was a folk healer and while she was suffering from dementia, she used to see many children around her. I believe they were children that she tried to help but didn´t make it.

Grandpa Luiz was born in Pedreira, São Paulo, near Campinas. His parents were named Maria and José and they had 15 children, 4 died at birth and the others lived long lives but have all passed away. The youngest, Great Uncle Augusto, died well into his 90´s and looked so much like my grandpa. My aunt Neuza told me that Great grandpa Francisco died a few days after my dad had been born in 1940 and she only saw her grandfather José three times during her lifetime, at a very young age, therefore she doesn´t recall much about him. I used to love going over to Grandpa Luiz´s to listen to his stories. By the way, he was a carpenter. The last thing I remember was one afternoon in 1988, a few weeks before he passed, Grandma Gracinda was already bedridden, I was sitting in front of him and he was lying down on his red couch when out of the blue, he looked at me and said “You know that I am dying”. I tried to change the subject because the one who was sick at the time was grandma, but he went on saying that he would watch my back from wherever he went. Sadly, he passed the week after this event. I remember being called into my boss´s office , as soon as I sat down, the boss started by saying he had just received a phone call, I stopped him and said my Grandpa Luiz had passes and started crying. You see, the whole family was taking turns caring for grandma and grandpa was not a complainer even though he was feeling stomach pain. Grandpa Luiz passed with a full head of shining white hair and all his teeth, no cavities.

Grandma and grandpa got married in President Bernardes, São Paulo on October 8, 1932. They had 7 children with the help of a midwife. I remember my dad telling me the story of how he had hurt his right arm. You see, he couldn´t lift it. He needed to use his left hand to help him whenever he made the sign of the cross. He used to tell me that he was stuck in his mother´s womb for many hours, the midwife stuck her hand in, grabbed his arm and pulled him out. At the time, medical assistance was not available so they didn´t take him to one to fix the arm when he was a baby. They lived on a lot of land that belonged to my grandpa´s family. There were many people living on the land and when it came time to split up the lot (inheritance) they had a fight and Grandpa Luiz decided to move to the city of São Paulo for a better lifestyle, besides Grandma Gracinda´s family was already living there ( or should I say , here).

Back to the children. Grandma and Grandpa had 7, Maria, Alfredo, Alice, José, João (my dad), Neuza and Jorge. Unfortunately, the only one still alive is Neuza. On November 11, 1978 Uncle Alfredo died of complications from intestinal cancer. He had been suffering from it for two years. He was 42. Then on November 15 that same year, Uncle Jorge passed away at 24 of a heart attack. Aunt Alice died when she was 12. The story that I was told is that she died when she got her first period, the blood when to her head ( It was what people believed). My Aunt Neuza says she had a stroke, as we call it nowadays.

Aunt Maria married Uncle Augusto, lived in Campinas, had a small lot of land in Suzano ,where I went a few times. They didn´t have any children. Nevertheless, they did adopt a boy named Sebastião, however, that did not turn out well. What I recall is that the boy at the age of 18 robbed them and ran away. I also know that he came back at a much later time in life, already a married man, to apologize. Aunt Maria resembled Grandma Gracinda in so many ways. Her cooking was spectacular. I loved visiting them. Aunt Maria passed away in July of 1995. Uncle Augusto is still alive well into his 90s ( if I am not mistaken, he´ll turn 94 on January 31).

Uncle Alfredo married Aunt Ascensão and had four children: Roberto, Maria Ascensão, Luiz and Alice. They are all married and have their own families. Aunt Ascensão loved Carnaval and always danced for a Escola de Samba called Rosas de Ouro as a Baiana. I guess that this is why I love watching the desfiles ( parades) during Carnaval and cheer for Rosas de Ouro. I never met Uncle Alfredo.

Uncle José married Aunt Herminia, lived in Arujá and had three children; Maria Valéria, Luiz and Valquiria. Uncle José and my dad were pretty close and they looked pretty much alike too. My mom tells me that when she met dad, she knew he was the one. But her sister-in-law questioned her about how she knew who was who and to make sure she was choosing the right brother. Luckily, Uncle José was engaged to Herminia at the time. I remember when Uncle José passed away, September 9, 2013, dad was so heartbroken, but he looked at me and said that one day we would all have to go. Aunt Hermina was a special woman, sweet and humble, she lived her whole life with ½ a kidney, an inspiring woman. Every time we visited them in Arujá, the first thing she did was make coffee because she knew dad and I appreciated her coffee. She and I had a conversation a few weeks before she passed similar to the one I had with my Grandpa Luiz. Sadly, she passed away on February 24, 2008. Guess the chat we had was an until-we-meet-again talk.

Dad and mom, João and Helena, they met here in Brazil when mom was 20. She and Grandma Eva lived in front of a church. Dad was very active in that church and one day knocked on her door to ask for contributions for the church bazar that was coming up. Mom recalls that her sister-in-law – Aunt Nancy- was with her at the time and mom turned to her and said, “This man is going to be my husband one day”. And so, it happened, mom and dad got married on December 21, 1963 and had two girls in Brazil and one girl in the US. Meire -me-, Miriam and Melissa (US). Sadly, dad passed away on February 12, 2017. *

Aunt Neuza married Uncle Victoriano and had two children: Cristina and Cristiano. Aunt Neuza says that before my family and I moved to the US, I was always stuck to her, wherever she went I was there. She was still single and lived with my grandparents. We lived in the same yard but in the house that was towards the back. She says that I always asked her to prepare a lunchbox for me because I wanted to go to work with her. She said that one day she took me with her, and I was so proud to be there eating lunch together with her. It is too bad that I have no recollection of life prior to moving to the US - prior to 5 years of age. Until today she brings me a warm feeling when we are together. When Aunt Hermina passed, my cousins Cristina and Cristiano had the idea of having monthly gatherings with the cousins and aunts and uncles so we wouldn´t just meet at funerals and/or at weddings (at this time there were no weddings in sight). These gatherings have been important and have kept the memories of those who have passed alive. Naturally, not everyone can make it to all the gatherings, but they are enjoyable anyway.

Uncle Jorge and Aunt Lucia married and had one child, Eliane. As I have mentioned above, Uncle Jorge died when Eliane was around one. Lucia never married again for he was her true love. (I don´t call her aunt because of her young age). Lucia is a retired schoolteacher and Eliane has followed in her footsteps; she is also an educator. When we came back to Brazil in 1982, she was living with my grandparents and we stayed a few weeks in the house in the back of the yard while our house, across the street, was being renovated. I remember attending Eliane´s wedding and when she walked down the aisle I turned to dad and with tears in ours eyes and said, “You can see him, too”. Dad just nodded. (The hair on my arms are rising as I am typing this). Both of us saw Uncle Jorge. Mind you, I only knew Uncle Jorge before moving to the US. Dad used to tell me a story that when I was around two, I used to limp. My parents were so worried that they took me to many specialists in São Paulo to find out what was wrong with my legs. Nothing was found, but dad said they had to hold me down to remove blood, which explains my fear of needles. The doctors asked if there was anyone in my life who limped, and dad said that the only person was a friend of Uncle Jorge´s. The doctor asked him not to visit for some time and like magic, I stopped limping. I was just imitating the boy. I wish I had gotten to know Uncle Jorge better.

Well, I guess I have covered most of the information that I received. Hopefully, I will find out more facts and stories.

Written: January 24, 2021

*Story about mom´s side of the family http://alitbitofme.blogspot.com/2021/01/my-mothers-side-of-family.html

*Story about dad´s passing http://alitbitofme.blogspot.com/2017/02/

*Story when I found out about dad´s disease

 http://alitbitofme.blogspot.com/2016/09/my-knight-in-shining-armor-has-met-his.html

Grandpa Luiz and Grandma Gracinda and the red couch

                                                                            (1976)

Not a family memeber, Aunt Herminia, Grandma, Aunt Neuza, Aunt Maria, Maria´s sister-in-law, Aunt Lucia
Not a family member, my cousin Maria Valéria (1976)

Aunt Neuza, Aunt Maria, Grandma, Grandpa, João (my dad), Uncle Jorge and Uncle José
1976

Uncle José, Aunt Neuza and my dad (50´s)

Uncle Alfredo, my dad, Uncle José, Aunta Maria, and the small girl Aunt Neuza ( 50´s)

Grandma Gracinda, Uncle Jorge, Granpa Luiz (late 60´s)

Mom, dad and me (1967)

Grandma Gracinda, Miriam ( my middle sister) and me (1969)

Mom in her early 20´s

Dad in his early 20´s

Grandma Gracinda 1984

Grandpa Luiz 1984

Great Uncle Augusto

Grandma and Grandpa at a young age

The oldest photo that I have of my grandpa´s family.
The older women: Rosa and Maria
The older men: Toni,Valentim, João, Carlos
The two children: Augusta and my Grandpa Luiz. 
My great grandmother holding Joaquim and my great grandfather next to her,
In this photo there are still two children missing ( they hadn´t been born yet)Julia and Augusto.
My gGrandpa Luiz is the second last to the right. 

Aunt Neuza and me

Grandma Eva, mom, Great aunt Ana, Great Aunt Mercedes, Grandma Gracinda
Celso, Idenir and me

Aunt Maria, Uncle Augusto and me at their farm

Uncle Jorge and me

Mom, dad and Luis ( cousin)

Standing: Aunt Neuza, Grandma Gracinda, Aunt Herminia, Mom, Grandpa Luiz
Sitting: Uncle José, Luis, Valéria, Uncle Jorge

Mom (expecting me), Grandma Gracinda, Aunt Herminia

Grandpa Luiz

Dad

Sebastião and Uncle Jorge

Uncle Jorge and me

Grandpa Luiz breaking up a fight between me (standing) and Miriam

Uncle Jorge, Mom and me

More Memories from Mom´s Childhood

 

Our talks have continued during mom´s recovery time. So much information, so many memories. It has actually been a delightful time despite the ups and downs due to her surgery.

My mom loves eating soup and I have come to understand why. Basically, that was what grandma Eva could afford to make to feed such a large family. A few ingredients go a long way- just add more water. I asked my mother what kind of soup was her favorite and she said that, in fact, any soup that had potatoes in it. She simply loves potatoes and it is easy to understand why, what grows best in Europe? Potatoes. Because of only making soup, grandma was not a fantastic cook. However, she did make corn bread once a week. Mom remembers that it was this real tough bread to bite into but the aroma in the house was yummy. They had a wooden oven to bake in. I also guess that that was their heating system in the winter. Mom doesn´t remember.

Grandma Eva was one of a kind. She lived with us while we lived in the US for a few years. At that time Miriam (my middle sister), Grandma and I slept in the same room. Miriam and I had to share a bed. She made us say our prayers every night and she prayed the rosery every night too. I told my mom some things that I still do nowadays because of grandma, whether it is considered a childhood trauma or not, but she told me two things, to be exact, that I do every single day. One is that if you do not make your bed as soon as you get up in the morning, your guardian angel will spend the day in bed and won´t accompany you throughout the day ( who wants that to happen? Not me for sure!) Another thing is that you should always match your bra and panties because you never know when you will faint in the street and need to be rescued by the paramedics. Oh, and there shouldn´t be any holes in either one. I used to laugh every time she said this, but I do it. Mom added that when she was growing up, grandma Eva would tell all the children that they had to wear their best outfits to bed because you did not know whether you would wake up the next day and if you didn´t, you would be buried in your best outfit. I am sure that Grandma Eva must have had many more life rules, but we only thought of these.

Grandma used to knit, embroider rugs and crochet. I guess that is where my handcraft skills come from. I also knit, crochet, embroider, paint - I simply love working with my hands. Mom´s profession later on, when she moved to Brazil, was rare too. She was a darner, a person who mends (a hole in knitted material) by interweaving yarn with a needle.  She also did this in the US for the police department. What a gift she had! Some of the police coats that she had to darn had cigarette holes in them. When she finished her work, you could not even tell where the hole had been. Nowadays, she doesn´t do this anymore, it really took a toll on her eyes.  

Grandma Eva´s mother was a teacher whose name was Miquelina Zeferina dos Reis Santana Mariana do Espirito Santo Bombinha and she married Manuel Pereira Tavares. Great grandma Miquelina must have come from a noble Family, first because of her name. Only noble women had such long names at her time and she was a teacher. At that time, you could only further your studies if you had money to pay for education. Great great grandma was also a teacher.       (Guess that´s where my becoming a teacher comes from) Mom studied up to the 3^rd or 4^th year of school. At that time, it was enough. You learned how to read, write and basic math. Mom also mentioned that she used to walk to school by herself. She doesn´t remember whether she wore a uniform, but she did remember that when there was a test at school, she needed to take a jar of orange juice and a sandwich. I asked her the reason for that, and she said that she only took food to school when there was a test; perhaps for the students to do better on the test. I asked her what kind of sandwich. That led to a story about killing a pig and melting the fat in a large can similar to a can of paint and then storing the pieces of meat there so they would just need to take it out and heat it to eat. But for sure, what she took to school was bread and butter. She also mentioned that she walked to school by herself, no one took her. She must have been 7 or 8 at the time. The school was down the road, near the church about a kilometer away or more. When she told me, she mentioned my place to the end of the street. But I bet that for a small child it seemed like a long journey to and from school every day.

Unfortunately, Grandma Eva did not marry a rich man and due to this, she was shunned from her family. Therefore, she couldn´t afford to send her children to the city to further their studies. After those three years of schooling, the boys would work on the fields and the girls would do house chores, which included taking lunch to grandpa out in the fields.

Grandma Eva was a very religious person and she made the whole family go to the first mass of the day and every day. Mom says that sometimes she would tell her mom that she had a headache and she would be allowed to stay home. Stupid me asked if that was true, that she had a lot of headaches. Mom replied that it was a lie and since she was the youngest, Grandma never questioned her. We laughed.

It was a pleasant afternoon. Obviously, there were so many other stories that she told me, but I will keep those to myself.

Written: January 20, 2021

Grandma Eva at a later age

Grandma Eva when she moved to Brazil

 

Google Images: This is a recent picture of the church- Nossa Senhor da Ajudar- my mom and her family used to go to when they lived on Bretanha, Portugal.

Google Images: Bretanha, Portugal
Mom says that her house was to the left of the church. 
This is a recent picture, but when mom lived there, there weren´t as many houses. 

My One and A Half-Legged Friend

 

One day while going to work she was mugged and thrown on to the train tracks at the age of 21. The train ran over her legs and she was left with one leg and a half. After three months of being hospitalized, she was sent home to live a normal life. It was a very painful process, but she does manage to make it look normal. She is an inspiration to me.

Today she called me up to say that she fell again. Again, because she is always falling simply because she forgets that she is missing a leg. By the way, she uses crutches. She tried a prosthetic leg but due to her high blood pressure she can´t use one. That is a whole story within itself. Besides this she needs to wear heels because the only foot she has was mangled in the tracks, so she needs the heel to walk with crutches. In addition to this, she wears longs skirts to cover it all up, not that she is embarrassed, but so people will not stare. If you ask her about it, she will show it to you without fretting. Back to the call. When she told me that she had fallen, I tried to guess how it happened. Cleaning the house? Getting off the bus? Getting on the bus? All the answers to these questions were no.

Cleaning the house is up to her and she does it while she sits on a swivel office chair so she can easily move from one place to the other hands free. When I first saw this, my jaw dropped. Sometimes she falls, she forgets that she is missing a leg and gets up to grab something to help her clean and bang, she crashes on the floor. While getting on or off the bus too, she gets up and starts walking with out her crutches and ends up falling. Yes, she takes a bus to work everyday rain or shine. When she told me this the first time, I said that she had to remember that she had no leg. We figured that it was due to the ghost pain from the leg that is not there she forgets that it is in reality not there. After this, she forces herself to remember that she is missing a leg.

When I answered the phone, after all the greeting and when I finally asked her how she was, she told me that she fell while she was showering. Well, not while but as she was getting off the stool and onto a dry spot. To do this miraculous feat, she hops on one leg and holds on to the sink. Apparently, the sink has taken its toll and detached from the wall. She was thrown back to where the stool was, and pieces of the sink flew. Luckily, she was not hit but any of the ceramic pieces. Unfortunately, she hurt he mangled foot and one toe. So, she was going to spend the day with her foot elevated and resting.

In the end, we laughed. I am glad that she did not get hurt. It is great how she can laugh at herself. Mind you, she is fifty years old today, so she has been doing this since she was 21, guess that the sink had had it.

 

Written: January 23, 2021 As soon as we hung up, she sent me these pictures.

Photo by MG

Photo by MG

 

My Mother´s Side of the Family

             Since my mom has been spending some time with me while she is recovery from a surgery, we have been talking about our family. People whom I have never met and those who are still alive and kicking. This morning I woke up contemplating about these people and I want to write something about them through my eyes and through my mom´s. I will start with my mother´s side of the family and go as far back as I can. ( In a future text, I will write about dad´s side of the family)

My mother is the youngest of six, Rui, Maria, Bibiana, Miquelina, Filomena and Helena (mom). Mom says that afterwards her mother gave birth to three more baby boys who died before they completed their first birthday. The first one, died at 9 months from pneumonia- mom does not remember his name, but he was given a name. She thinks that perhaps he was named Antonio. However, she recalls that he was so lovely that whoever looked at him would say `He´s so beautiful but he won´t be yours`- and they were right. The next one died only a few days old. My mom remembers that her mom had placed a bowl filled with boiling water next to the baby and apparently the bowl tipped over and the baby ended up dying. Mom says that it was the baby who did it. The youngest of all was born with many birth imperfections and nobody saw it. She just remembers her father burying it. All her siblings were born in the same house with the help of a midwife on the Island of São Miguel, Azores, Portugal. Her parents were Eva and Manuel from Ponta Delgada, Portugal.

My grandmother became a widow when my mom was nine years old. Grandpa Manuel died from a urine infection at that time medical assistance was not easy. Mom doesn´t remember too much about her father. He was a quiet man and farmer who sold yams, but the family mostly lived off the land. One thing that she does recall was that her father was working in the fields and asked my mom to go up the hill and turned on the water faucet. So, she did that. But what he really wanted was a cold glass of water. She thought that he wanted the water to run down to the plantation. She also recalls that she and her sister had to take him lunch in the fields, but they never knew which side he had gone to. They would go to one side and it took around an hour to get to only to find out that he was on the other side. While he ate, he would make them use and noise maker (reco-reco) to scare the birds. She didn´t think that it was a game, she thought it was punishment.

My mom also tells me that she loves eating soup because that is basically what her mother made day in and day out. She also recalls that she would go and buy meat only for her brother. One day mom cried and cried that she wanted a piece of meat. Grandma turned to her and demanded that she stop crying because the meat was for her brother and if my mom wanted a piece of meat, she needed to cut her mom´s arm off to eat. Due to their low social class, on their birthday they would get a boiled egg as a gift. Eggs were their exchange money. She would take six eggs and exchange them for sugar and flour. Mom says that she would go. She also says that when there wasn´t enough soup for the whole family, my grandma would give my mom and her sister Filomena a piece of bread and tell them to go eat the bread under the fruit tress and pick the fruit off the tree to eat with the bread. Mom has some sad memories from her childhood, but I am sure she had some good moments too which she doesn´t recall.

The first one to leave Portugal and head to Brazil was uncle Rui. Later on, he called the whole family to join him. She arrived in Brazil in 1956, 13 at the time. They left the Azores on a ship that stopped in Lisbon where they stayed for a month at her rich aunt´s home. Mom remembers that the moment she stepped in the front yard, she noticed a beautiful plum tree and mentioned it out loud. Her aunt looked at her and told her that she was prohibited from eating the fruit off that tree. Mom adds that until today she has not eaten a fresh plum – tomorrow, I will buy her one.

After the 30 days in Portugal, the ship sailed onwards to Brazil. Mom remembers that the ship stopped again on one of the islands and that the family went sightseeing. She says it was interesting.

Uncle Rui met aunt Nancy here in Brazil. They got married and had two boys, Eduardo and Hamilton. They moved to the US and managed to bring my mom and her family, Aunt Filomena and her family to live in the US in 1971.

Aunt Maria met uncle Alvaro here in Brazil and from the marriage had two children: Idenir and Celso. Unfortunately, they got divorced and aunt Maria raised her two children. Sadly, Idenir has already passed. She had a heart attack a few years ago.

Aunt Bibiana was dating uncle David when she moved to Brazil, they met in Portugual. They got married and had three children: Sergio, Catia and Mike. They moved to Canada right after Sergio was born.

Aunt Miquelina also had a Portuguese boyfriend, uncle Manuel ( whose birthday is the same day as mine). They got married here in Brazil and moved to Canada. They had four children: Oliberto, Nomesio, Aparecida and Eva.

Aunt Filomena met uncle Raymundo, got married and had two children: Katia and Claudio. Uncle Raymundo owned a famous butcher shop here in São Paulo before he retired.

Mom met dad here in Brazil when she was 20. She and grandma- later Aunt Maria and her kids – lived in front of a church. Dad, João, was very active in the church and one day knocked on her door to ask for contributions for the church bazar that was coming up. Mom recalls that her sister-in-law – Aunt Nancy- was with her at the time and mom turned to her and said, “This man is going to be my husband one day”. And so, it happened, mom and dad got married and had two girls in Brazil and one girl in the US. Meire -me-, Miriam and Melissa.

Since we also moved to the US in 1971, I remember spending time with my cousins from mom´s side of the family up until 1982, when we moved back to Brazil. Many great memories are still vivid in my mind (of course, there are no so great ones as well).

Written: January 15, 2021

Grandma Eva , Mom and relatives from dad´s side of the family

Cousins : 1st row, top to bottom : Idenir, Katia, Celso, Mez
2nd row, top to bottom: Eddie, Bert, Hammie, Claude

Grandma Eva, Aunt Maria and me

Photo: Standing: Bibiana, Maria, Grandpa Manuel, Grandama Eva, Rui, Miquelina
Sitting: Greatgrandpa, Helena( mom - with her first doll) and Filomena