Olá a todos! // Hi everyone! Espero que estejam bem. // I hope you all are fine. We are doing well. A dear friend has rented an apartment near to us here in Santa Luzia. She is for the month of March! It is a blessing. Her proximity reminds me that we are different. But certainly we are stronger together.
It is the differences and their complementarity that spices things up. These ingredients make our 40-plus-year friendship work. But more than this they challenge us to thrive. Our differences make us stronger together.
Lemons And Rocks
As I was writing a previous blog, I grew curious whether the Portuguese had a saying similar to a common English one. That is, ”when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I asked my Portuguese tutor, Lúcio Neves (@portuguese.coach, @portokol.community). He said yes, Portuguese possesses the exact same saying. “Quando a vida te dá limões, faz limonada.”
But Lúcio also shared another Portuguese saying with a similar intent. ”Pedras no caminho? Aguardo tudo, um dia vou construir um castelo.” In English, “Rocks in the way? I gather them all, one day I am going to build a castle.” This saying, while similar to the lemon one, seemed to me ”better”. Its pedigree helped. It supposedly came from Fernando Pessoa, the great 20th century Portuguese poet.
Pessoa has become a favorite poet of mine. Not my absolute favorite — which strangely remains a competition between Anne Sexton and Mary Oliver. Perhaps it is the man Pessoa who intrigues me most. That is, more than his poetry. A man who lives in his mind. A solitary beguiled by loneliness and fascinated with sadness’ drape over life. There’s a certain affinity there for me.
But I am getting off track. I’ll return to Pessoa in another blog. Right now we are talking about lemons and rocks.
Those Rocks, Stronger Together
After some cursory searching I discovered that the saying not attributable to Pessoa. Its provenance remains unknown. But I like it nonetheless.
The ”lemon” saying seems to imply
