Today is the day! 20 years later…

Today, 7th of February 2017 is the day that André and I celebrate 20 years of life together and whatever life has thrown at us. I love celebrations of any kind, I think about every detail, I normally bake a cake and sometimes have too many expectations but I prefer it this way! I have always loved this day since our first anniversary: while living in different countries we exchanged cards by post, when we were lucky we could travel and meet somewhere halfway or simply have a special dinner in or out and enjoy the peace that companionship gives.

I wanted to mark this day with something very  special, something that will remain beyond our time and that will make us remember of all this time together and will tell a story to our children. So my random S today goes to Sónia! I found Sónia through a very good friend of mine. Sónia is a super talented artist that after phone calls and many emails was able to understand every single detail of our story and put it all in paper is such a beautiful way!

Our 20′ years in life together 

1997…and the beach of our so loved ‘Praia da Poça’ in Estoril for the many walks past and present, the sea from Cascais and the seagulls, our Portuguese roots and the trees of the Sintra mountains. London – the city that welcome us and where we lived together for the first time, that made us grow and made us tougher too! All the travelling, the trains, the buses, the planes that took us away from each other, that reunited us, that took us back to our families and friends, that made us know a bit more of the world but also the hard daily commutes in a super-fast city. The Natural History Museum and the view from our first flat forever is our hearts. On the top of the hill the year 2014 when we were blessed with the birth of our baby T.

2016 brought us to Madrid to continue our journey, and to a completely new life! We left our jobs, our friends, our sweet neighbours, baby T little friends and we carried on because we knew that no matter what, the people we leave behind in whichever country in whichever city are always with us and eager to welcome us every time we go back. Looking at the first sketches of this painting I missed the people, all these people that make our life what it is: our families with our little nieces growing up far away, the friends for life we made along the way and the ones who were waiting with open arms for us to start a new life in Madrid and made our move so much smoother. What a blessing! And the snow!!! Of course the snow…during the entire move André could not stop thinking on the skiing weekends we would be able to have while living in Spain and teach T how to ski. Father and son are held by two very pale yellow lines…in the picture, André is ready to hold him should he ever fall, and in life as well. The lavender is for good luck – all beautiful details from Sónia.

Madrid and such a warm welcome

Along the way there are hills and valleys and this is not because I like to hike (not at all) but because this has been our life, full of happiness and joy, but sad moments as well, sickness and grief, successes and failures and many stones on the way…but as a good friend said the other day when visiting ‘when you choose the person to be on your side, choose them well because life tends to became harder with time…’! I truly believe we both chose well, even if some days the hills look higher than ever. For 20 years and more I hope we will carry on with our bags and smiles and just simply go…wherever life will take us!

Day by day, stone by stone

But for tonight we are childfree, and for dinner we will keep exploring the amazing restaurants and nightlife in Madrid, I’ll tell you all about it in the next post but for tonight check Instagram. There will also be cake of course….

Check Sónia’s work here