01/09 Chapter 611: Improvised Vacation
Today was my day to take care of you and Rafinha while Grandma and Auntie took care of several last-minute wedding errands. At first, I was supposed to be alone with the two of you, but Grandma took a little tumble getting out of the shower today and decided to skip Pilates because she was sore and didn’t want to push herself. So she ended up staying with me, keeping me company and helping me with you two, because taking care of both of you is definitely not an easy job! đ
As for Grandma, thankfully it was just a fall. She didn’t hit her head or break anything, and she was only sore afterward. But we do get a little more worried when something like that happens because when you’re very young or elderly, your bones can be more fragile, your skin can be thinner, and your body can take longer to recover. A fall can also cause fractures or other complications, so at these two stages of life, even a simple tumble deserves a little extra attention and care.
The plan was for me to stay with you until 4 p.m. At 4, we would leave the house, I would drop you both off at Great-Grandma’s house, and at 5 I had my nail appointment for the wedding. It was supposed to take about an hour, and then I would pick you up again and take you home.
Time went by much faster than I expected. We played for a while, watched TV, painted, and before I knew it, it was already 4 p.m. So I took you both to Great-Grandma’s house and went to get my nails done.
Later, when I was already near Great-Grandma’s house, she asked me to come upstairs because she was making a second batch of pĂŁo de queijo for you and it was going to take a little while. So I went up and watched the two of you happily devour them.
She said she made them because you asked for them. Rafinha didn’t want any at first. But once they were ready, he started eating and ended up eating even more than you did! Then you both asked for more, so she made another batch. đ
Every time you go to Great-Grandma’s house, the thing you love most is eating her pĂŁo de queijo. More than chocolate or anything else! It reminds me so much of myself when I used to stay at my grandma’s house and loved having ice cream with all my sprinkles, nuts, toppings, and everything else I could put on it. That was my favorite thing.
And for you, it’s pĂŁo de queijo. ❤️
I think it’s so sweet when you ask to go to Great-Grandma’s house and say that you miss her. And it makes her so happy, too. My grandma was my safe place, and her house felt like my second home. I hope that one day you look back and feel the same way about your Great-Grandma and her house as I did about mine.
After that, we came home, and Rafinha ended up sleeping here too.
Tomorrow, the plan is to go see my friend Miguel, who is visiting from the United States. We’ll see if everything works out! Rafinha will stay with Tayna at the office while we go.
THE WEDDING IS ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!!! đ❤️
And just like that, our improvised week of vacation from school is almost over!
02/09 Chapter 612: Improvised Vacation
For the past three days, I’ve been trying to arrange a time to see my friend Miguel, but we just haven’t been able to make it happen. Today was our last chance because he’s only staying in Brazil until Sunday. And tomorrow is my sister’s wedding, so there’s absolutely no way we could meet then.
We first tried to meet on Wednesday, after your doctor’s appointment, but we didn’t leave until after 3:30 p.m., and your dad had a meeting until 5 p.m., so there simply wasn’t enough time for us to get together. We then scheduled lunch for Thursday, but that was canceled because Miguel’s wife’s grandmother, who had been the main reason for their trip to Brazil, had improved and wanted to see her great-granddaughters. So we rescheduled for today, but another unexpected situation came up, and Miguel asked if we could meet at 10 a.m. However, to get to his hotel by 10, we would have had to wake up before 8 a.m., which would have made for a very exhausting and hectic morning. So we decided to leave it for another time, when we could see each other without rushing.
Miguel is a friend I made during one of my very first trips to the United States. I was traveling with my aunt Rosely and my grandma Sonia when I met him at the Apple Store, where he was helping me buy my iPhone. He worked there at the time. I was around twenty years old, and Miguel had met his now-wife, Danielli, just a few weeks earlier. After I bought my phone from him, we started talking, hit it off, and became friends. I was absolutely thrilled to have made my very first American friend!
We used to talk quite a lot back then. I would tell him about my relationship problems, and he would share his own challenges, including what it was like dating a Brazilian woman. And from that point on, we stayed friends. Miguel has always treated me incredibly well, and we’ve always tried to make our friendship a two-way street. Whenever I visited Orlando, he would take me places, give me rides to the theme parks, and on several occasions, he even paid for my lunch, dinner, or breakfast.
Early in his relationship with Danielli, we had just moved permanently to Serra da Cantareira, and our old apartment, where we had lived for almost twenty years, was still sitting vacant. We weren’t renting it out; we just used it occasionally for different things, like when my sister and I were exhausted after college or when we wanted to meet up with friends on the weekend.
I remember asking my dad for permission to lend the apartment to Miguel when he was coming to Brazil to spend a few days with his girlfriend. My dad agreed because he had already met Miguel during another trip to Orlando and really liked him. Miguel had also been incredibly courteous and helpful to my parents during their visit to Orlando.
Miguel was extremely grateful and happy at the time. Since he and Danielli were still in the early stages of their relationship, they would have the entire apartment to themselves, a private space where they could enjoy each other’s company. That would have been completely different from staying at her family’s house, with her parents around all the time.
Americans can find the Brazilian lifestyle a little strange, especially the fact that many Brazilians continue living with their parents even after starting or graduating from college, often until they get married. That’s quite different from the typical American experience, where young adults are generally expected to move out and become independent earlier.
Miguel also wasn’t as financially comfortable back then as he is today. So, in addition to not having to stay under the same roof as his girlfriend’s parents, whom he barely knew at that point, he didn’t have to spend money on a hotel or an Airbnb. I even lent them my car, and they were incredibly grateful!
There were many other occasions when Miguel helped me during my visits to Orlando, often with little things that might not seem like much individually but add up to a lot over the years.
It was also through Miguel that I met his friend Mark, who eventually became my friend, too. Mark is a fun American guy who’s a little crazy in the best possible way. We became such good friends that, during another trip to Orlando, he invited me to stay at his house. The only problem was that he lived with his mother. Apparently, Mark didn’t quite fit the stereotype of an American who moves out and lives independently!
I’m naturally shy, so the idea of staying at a friend’s house while his mother was there made me a little uncomfortable. But I accepted because I was practically broke at the time, and not having to pay for a hotel during an international trip was an enormous saving. The trip turned out to be so much fun. I made new friends, even went out drinking one night, and just like that, Mark became another friend in my life.
We’re not nearly as close in touch these days, unlike Miguel, whom I still talk to from time to time, even if we don’t communicate very frequently.
Miguel has witnessed so many different chapters of my life. He knew me back when I was just starting college and was involved with a guy named Gabriel. He was there during the love triangle between Caique, Natascha, and Lucas, and later when I met your dad. And then, eventually, when I had you.
He knows so much about my journey and my romantic history because he was there for many of those moments. He knew all those guys and followed along as my life unfolded.
I think one of the things that brought Miguel and me even closer was discovering that I was pregnant at almost exactly the same time as his wife, Danielli. We were both expecting our first babies, with our due dates set for October. We started talking much more often, sharing our thoughts and experiences as we looked forward to becoming parents. We talked about pregnancy, motherhood, fatherhood, and all the uncertainties and excitement that come with welcoming your first child.
We had been friends for almost a decade, and suddenly, we were going through such a special and similar stage of life at the same time.
But the biggest surprise came when you and Olivia, Miguel and Danielli’s daughter, were getting ready to be born. Everything seemed to point toward the possibility that you might even be born on the SAME DAY!
And yet, in an incredible coincidence, you were born on October 19, 2026, while Olivia was born on October 20, 2026, just ONE DAY AFTER YOU. If things had happened a few hours earlier, you and my friend’s daughter would have shared the same birthday and the same age. We almost made it, but we just missed! Even so, being born only one day apart is still pretty historic in my book!
When we first traveled to San Diego with your dad, I managed to squeeze in a quick visit with Miguel at the hotel where he was staying. I got to see little Olivia and Dani, too. It was only a few minutes, but that’s how our friendship works. We’re both incredibly busy, yet we always try to find a little time for each other whenever, by chance, we happen to be in the same city and the same country.
Poor Miguel tried again this time, but it seems the universe was working against us.
He has since had another daughter, Sophie, who has either just turned one or is about to. Time really does fly.
Miguel is a friend I want to keep in my life and in my heart forever. Even though we don’t see each other often or talk regularly, both of us know that if one of us ever needed the other and called for help, the other would be there.
And some friendships are simply like that, especially once you get into your twenties and thirties. You don’t maintain the same level of contact or talk as frequently as you once did. Sometimes, you might go quite a while without speaking. But when you finally see that friend again, no matter how much time has passed, it feels as though not a single day has gone by.
