A Test of Love

On a Monkey-Watch Picnic in the Park

My parents have shown me their love and support for my 25 years of life, so consistently and strongly that I have nothing to ever complain about. (Remind me if you ever find me complaining, because I really shouldn't be.) From teaching me to ride a bike, to teaching me how to drive, to driving me off to Berkeley for my freshman year, they have always so openly given me wheels of love and support. So there's this great song by Cristina Ballestero that talks about a test of love between God and man. I didn't quite get it at first- I thought, can and should you really test love? But my mom said so simply, Maggie what do you think we are doing here in Brazil?

Duh. I don't think I've tested their love limits as much as I have these past two years, and especially these past two weeks, as they made the long trek to come visit me in Brazil.

Test number one: One of them who is deathly afraid of flying and uses grandpa's old cough medicine to help her get through the flight, and another who perhaps tore his ACL just before the trip, and these two still got off the plane in São Paulo with twinkles in their eyes and big grins. Or where those grimaces? Test number two: Letting their daughter drive them all over Brazil's winding roads up and down mountains, and worse- out of Rio. We still have all our body parts. Test number three: taking a pit stop for a couple hours to let their daughter renew her visa for another five months. Cringe. Test number four: Surrendering to their daughter's ability to speak a little bit of Portuguese to navigate from one place to another. Test five: Learning a few Portuguese phrases to alleviate their daughter's translation work. (Also, boldly speaking English looking for anyone to just please understand.) Test six: Meeting all of their daughter's friends and talking their heads off night after night, being social chatterboxes. Test seven: Trusting their daughter when she said, "Oh try this, you will like this!". And not saying a word when they really just wanted a Pinot Grigio and not a Chardonnay. Test eight: Saying goodbye to their daughter, once again, at the airport. And many many more quizzes in between. But hey, who's counting?

Selaron Steps in Rio de Janeiro

I've learned these past few years that love isn't a feeling, it is an action. Love is a choice. And as I see many of my friends getting hitched, I understand how that is just the first choice in many acts of love. I can't count my blessings on my fingers and that is mostly because of the constant loving support my parents have given me in all my adventures and decisions.

You may see an independent girl stomping through Brazil, but that is only because of two people that decided to make a vow 30 years ago to grow and nurture a beautiful family and try to add something good to the world. The least I can do is share their love with everyone around me. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for you truly have passed this test of love with flying colors.