What I Learned from My Mother

What I Learned from My Mother

It is very difficult to be writing this, opening up a bit of my personal life, but I needed to speak and make this tribute.

It has been a little over a month since my mother passed away; it is being very hard without her here, but I learned a lot from her and perhaps whoever reads this text ends up learning too.

My mother was a teacher and my first training and profession was also being a teacher, inspired by her. She was a singer, songwriter, artist and I also inspired myself in her to sing, compose and write poetry. She was always very joyful and so am I. We even share the same birthday.

She was always by my side, advised me and gave me shelter in my most difficult moments, but the most difficult of all was having to say goodbye to her.

I spent the last months by her side, caring, giving affection, love and attention. I changed my life, work, housing to be able to accompany her; I hoped she had more time by our side.

With her I learned everything, everything I am I carry a bit of her. Our personalities were similar, our way of seeing the world too, but in everything I am sure she will always be better than me and I am proud of that.

What I can leave as a lesson for whoever comes to read this is: Never, ever, put work above everything, above those you love. Work you can get another one, but after you lose someone, there is no other chance.

I was lucky to make the right choice and would make the same choice always. I was lucky to have organized myself and have a reserve, even if small, to be able to maintain my family if I needed to stay without working. I was lucky to see that the moment the company was going through, where it needed me more due to demand, scope and project deadlines, did not reconcile with the moment I was going through. I was lucky to have the courage to leave to focus on what was most important to me. I was lucky to have had another opportunity in another place, that was in a calmer moment and that despite also needing me, like the previous company, gave me more flexibility so I could accompany my mother. I was lucky for being able to have given and received much love from my mother in her final moments.

My greatest luck was being the son of Dona Maria Geny de Sá Pereira Bastos, of having lived and learned with her during these 34 years of my life. For having been loved and protected by her, for being able to have given pride to her in moments like this, of the record mentioned above, of my graduation in Mathematics. For having demonstrated how much I love her, even though that is not measurable.

Thank you, my mother, for everything!