FAREWELL TO MY BRAZILIAN BOYFRIEND!!!


it was a sweltering summer day, the sky was full of clouds and smelled of rain. yet russ and i decided we'd swim anyway. so we head for the country club to splash in the cool pool. we sit down at the cafe, just outside the pool and ordered lunch. he'll have the tuna fish and i'll go for the Caesar salad. then we wait. we begin playing a sophisticated game of "eye-spy." enter... my boyfriend. he is with his brothers, LUCA (4), PAULO (7) and their nanny. they choose the table next to ours and order their lunch. from across the way floats a smooth british accent.

"i'm MATEO"
"hello Mateo, i'm peggy... this is russ"
"where are you from?"
"utah."
"utah?"
"yeah... what about you?"
"originally i'm from london... now i live in brazil."
"wow" "do you speak Portuguese?"
"yes.... do you only speak american?"
"yup." (spoken like a true american)

his questioning went like this til our food was ready. he quickly finished his lunch and made me promise him that i would come and find him in the pool once i was done. i promised. and this handsome, 5 foot nothing, olive complexed, brown hair, sparkling blue eyed, nine year old boy ran off to jump in the chilled bath! i laughed to myself. i had a new crush.

then russ and i slowly made our way to the pool. the moment i stepped in, i heard my name being called out with the most beautiful intonation...

"peggy... watch me."

i turned my attention to Mateo and his brothers flipping off the diving board. i cheered with each attempt made and smiled back at Mateo once he surfaced from his "daring plunge."

we played there for a few hours and before we knew it, our time was up. we had to leave and say goodbye. Mateo was by my side in an instant.

"are you coming tomorrow?"
"yes, i think we will be here."
(geesh... this kid could get anything he wanted with a smile like that) "good, we'll be here too. will you come and find me?"
"of course i will."

throughout the week, we would run into this little family. each time, Mateo was by my side, asking me question after question about himself. i was quickly falling into puppy love.

but today i said goodbye... probably for good. Mateo and his brothers are headed home tomorrow. Mateo and i took one last meaningful dive for the water torpedo and then... we left. i wished him well. told him to come back soon. told him i would come and visit. and knew that it was all wishful thinking.

GOODBYE MATEO... i shall never forget you. be good. i'll miss you!!!