When we are born, our first lap is the maternal. In her arms we cuddle, from the milk of her breasts we nourish ourselves. From there, we create a visceral relationship for our entire life. In the tender years of life, it is she who supports us, educates us, pampers us, nina us, warms us, covers us, protects us.
Already in adolescence, she is the first to stand aside, serving only to make lunch and pick us up at parties (if IFood and Uber do not play this role). Then we grew up, became real adults and started to understand again how important this being is for us to move on.
If we have children, she becomes the beloved grandmother, who gives support in the midst of the daily rush; or the one that pampers our little ones, who grow up and take their course. Then time passes and we become older and she, a little more experienced than us.
Some marriages break down, others end in the death of a partner. But if she is still alive, it will be in her lap that we will still seek shelter, even if we never do it again physically, only mentally.
This is Gonçalo's story. Today, his mother turns 102. Inhabits a nursing home. He doesn't talk anymore, he's already tired of such a task. He doesn't walk either. After all, walking for what and where at this point in life?
It is not known if at least she is aware of something, but God keeps her alive and in iron health, removing the supposed deafness and the bladder that no longer holds her urine.
Many wonder why or even when it will remain in this world. I have here for me that until I feel that her son, now 77 years old, no longer needs her, emotionally speaking.
Within her unconsciousness, I believe that withdrawal by God so that she remains firm and healthy, if we can say so, she remains firm and strong, like the mother who gave birth to little Gonçalo, the one who taught him to pray before the adversities and in which he trusts his life, even without knowing it. It is your safe haven, your fortress. A woman who always had a steady pulse and never gave up in the face of life's difficulties.
Apparently, it distorts the reality about her being happy to be alive and "healthy" for so long, to live the happiness of having her present. Seeing it is enough to move you forward. Sometimes we believe that our mothers will be eternal, and that gives us unparalleled security.
And so she goes on, firmly, celebrating another year, and staying alive for him and for him, in a silent pact that they may have drawn up a few or hundreds of years ago. These are the inexplicable human relationships and their mysterious links in this world.
What years she'll have to live, we don't know. The only thing that is certain is that, today, she pulled out another smile and many photos to be part of the collection of memories in Gonçalo's book of life. And so be it as long as it has to be.
EN 
PT 
