You arrived on the day of a Brazilian team game in this World Cup. Friends joke that he’s not a “Copa baby” for nothing, with his mother.
I’m sure that, like your parents, you will love watching and playing sports. I already suspected it, because it was in Milan, covering the Winter Olympics, that I felt you move inside your belly for the first time. You loved the noise of ice hockey matches!
Since coming into the world, he has already “watched” World Cup games on television. When you really start following it, you’ll see that here in England people love football, but are pessimistic about the men’s team. We, Brazilians, always think we will win. It’s just that their only world title was 60 years before you were born… Anyway, you’ve already received a gift from England and another from Brazil. Oh, and one from Vasco, dad’s team.
Soon, you will start doing sports and realize that it is not only good for growing strong and healthy, but a way to have lots of friends. Here, in addition to football, they are also rugby fans. And I think you’ll find it funny how seriously the English take something that in Brazil we only play for fun — like pool and darts. There’s even a world championship!
In fact, visits to Brazil will feel like a vacation, and you will see what a privilege it is to be in such a sunny place. Here the beaches are not nearly as beautiful as there, where you can play volleyball, football, surf, run. You were born during a heat wave in London, but as part of the days are cloudy and cold, you will miss the sea, the grape popsicle, the Globo biscuit. There are also beans, fruits, sweets, kisses and hugs. Here in England people are more formal…
But in a place to be enjoyed outdoors, you’ll need to be more careful. In Brazil, there are children who only leave the house by car, with the windows closed, and live in a building with bars. Here in London, when they are still young, they learn to ride a scooter and go to school, accompanied by their parents from afar. They have freedom and learn to be independent. And when you go to a football stadium, you can safely get to and from public transport. To watch men’s and women’s football, of course. The English players are beasts, people respect them and support them.
But this scale of distance has a hard side. Soon, you will realize that your heart will be forever divided. Despite being born in England, you are also Brazilian. I really hope that you can enjoy the best of both worlds and find your roots and that sense of belonging, which is so fundamental, wherever you choose.
And speaking of the Olympic Games and the World Cup, mom will sometimes need to be away, perhaps even on some of her birthdays, when sporting events are away from home. It’s not bad. One day you will understand that it is because she loves what she does and I am sure you will be proud.
But it’s not time yet. For now, between sleepless nights, intense days and a lot of learning in these first days of life, we continue watching the World Cup on television. And there is no other place in the world I would rather be.
Welcome, my son.
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