Ruas das Memorias

I woke up about half an hour ago, disoriented, and not quite sure where I was. It took me a moment or two to get my bearings. My feet won't be touching the polished marble floors at Elmiro and Alice's home in Porto Martins. I won't hear the lively conversation at the kitchen table as my family begins the day with cafe, pao, queijo, and various fruits. Instead, I'm back home in the Pacific Northwest. It is overcast outside and I hear the rain beating against the windows. Although I have numerous errands to accomplish, it is a good day for working on my final thoughts and reflections. It won't take much effort for my mind to wander along "ruas das memorias".... or streets of memories .... all I need to do is close my eyes and I am there, back enjoying our final days in Terceira.

The streets were lively for the final days of the festas. I especially enjoyed the "old time" parade from the early agricultural days of the island. Decorated carts pulled by cows and horses clicked against the cobblestone streets. Men, women, and children dressed in native costumes and carrying baskets of grain, bread, chickens, and other goods paraded down the streets while musicians played lively tunes.

Another entertaining event during the final day of the festas was the bullfight on the beach. My dad used to tell us the story of how he was chased into the water and lost his camera during one of these events many years ago. I thought about Dad as we watched the four bulls, one at a time, loosened on the beach. Today they are held tethered by a rope to keep them from causing too much trouble. Still, you need youth and exuberance to outrun the bulls on the beach. We chose to watch from a distance, a safe location near the marina. We had a great view and plenty of good conversation and laughs!

The final night of the festas was a grand celebration. Twenty minutes of the most gorgeous fireworks exploded over the marina/harbor of the praia. The fireworks were choreographed to music, and you could feel the vibrations throughout your entire body. My aunts and uncles thought it would be nice to say good-bye to the praia on the last night by driving up to the town's outlook point -- Serra do Facho. From the beach you can look up at the high ridge and see the glowing statue watching over the praia. From the top, you can look down and see the lights of Praia twinkling and feel the evening breeze caress your face. We sat on the overlook's stone fence and took in the sights and sounds of the praia below, each quiet with our own private thoughts and reflections on this final evening. Each of us wanting to say good-bye in our own way. We blew one last kiss to the praia before departing.

The festas over, we spent one final afternoon in town saying our good-byes to shopkeepers and friends. We set about packing our suitcases and wrapping our "treasures" carefully. Included in my treasures is a small gold charm from my Tio Armando with the Portuguese inscription: Remember your tio. How could I ever forget you tio! The drive to the airport was a difficult one. Looking out the car window I tried to memorize every little detail....knowing that soon I would only be able to rely on my memory. Hugs, kisses, tears, and "I love you's" flowed, along with promises to return one day soon. Then before we knew it, we were sailing skyward on SATA Airlines headed for the east coast and family I have not seen in over thirty years!

The three days in Connecticut with the De Castro family were a joy! I remember my older cousins well, despite the passage of time. The younger cousins were all grown up with spouses and children of their own. We all gathered together for main meals and stories about growing up in the Azores abounded. My older cousins remembered me as a baby before leaving Terceira. They were between 5 and 9 years of age at the time. We got to hear funny stories about my mom as a young girl too. There were many laughs to go around. My brother James took cousin Durval to see a Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park while we girls drove with Maria Bela about an hour to Fall River, Massachusetts. There we shopped in Portuguese groceries and markets for products to take home. Lisa has been the "keeper" of the family Portuguese recipes, quizzing our aunts and cousins about "how much of this" and "how much of that" to use. She also purchased a Portuguese cookbook. I'm expecting to have an occasional sampling whenever I'm out visiting Mom in Seabeck. Thank you to our cousins for a wonderful time on the east coast. I hope and pray it won't be as long before I see you all again. I'm thinking of you all .... Durval and Maria (Paul, Steven, Mark, and Karen), Maria Bela and Tia Conceicao, Balbino and Clotilde (Philip), David and Nelia (David, Christina), Herminio and Linda (Michelle), Manny and Kim (Adriano, Christian), your wonderful spouses and all the littlest cousins too! We will never forget our tias Inez and Leontina.... we miss you and will see you in God's Kingdom one day.

We all experienced mixed feelings about our return trip. It was wonderful to come home to the beauty of Washington State and to all that we know as "home". Yesterday we called Tia Alice and found out, that while it's overcast and rainy here, it's sunny and beautiful in Terceira. It rained for us the day we left and we've come home to rain. The rain is calming....cleansing....
soothing....comforting. It reminds us of home. But down the streets of our memories, there is another place we call home and it beckons to us too. If you catch me with a faraway look in my eyes, it just may be that I'm thinking of my island home, my Terceira. It may be that I'm thinking of the cheers of the Portuguese people as the plane touches down on the runway and hoping that one day soon, I'll be cheering again too.

Dorothy

aka: Maria Uma da Silva