Saudade

1 (Summer 13 years ago)

"Hi Avò!" 14 year old Cecilia said giving her grandparents both tight hugs. "We missed you, amour!" Her grandfather Manuel said, kissing her on the forehead.  Her grandfather was her favourite person in the world, he was the sweetest person ever and never failed to make Cecilia laugh. "How was your flight and how much was the taxi ride from the airport. They charge so much these days." Alice, her grandmother asked. "Not too bad, can I help you with anything in the kitchen mom?" Cecilia's mom Selena offered. "No,no. you guys know where your bedrooms are, go relax. I will let you know when dinner is ready."

Alice and Manuels house was a beautiful stone house with an orange clay roof on the edge of Apulia right by the beach. It had three bed rooms, one for Alice and Manuel, one for Selena and Miguel and one for Cecilia. It was Selena's childhood home, but had been fully renovated. The hilly boardwalk across the sand dunes was right across the street from the house. It took less than 2 minutes and your feet were in the sand. It was Cecilia's happy place. The only place she truly felt safe and at peace. The waves would calmly splash on the beach and at low tide she would go looking for shells and starfish.

Cecilia got to her room and plopped onto her bed. Her room was near the corner of the upstairs hallway. It had a Queen sized bed with white sheets spread on top. She had a large closeout on one wall and on the other was a big window with a view of the back yard.  Cecilia loved her room. It was comfortable, she felt most at home in that house.

Her dad, Miguel would be coming later in the summer since he had to work. Miguel never loved going to Apulia, but he came anyways. Cecilia and her dad would always go to the beach and build sand castles together. It was one of her favourite memories as a kid. She knew her dad secretly liked Apulia, even if he didn't show it. 

She couldn't wait for tomorrow when she would see her friend Maria and go to the beach. She had kept in touch with her friend Maria through email. They grew up spending every day of summer together. Cecilia smiled and kicked her feet from excitement.

Her moment of excitement was ruined when her mom barged through her door. "I could have been naked, mom!" Cecilia said sitting up. "sorry, Filha. Do you have face wash?"

Cecilia stood up and got it out of her suitcase. "You need to unpack these bags Cici." Her mom nagged.

"Okay." Cecilia said with an eye roll.

When Cecilia woke up the next day she rushed to the washroom and got ready quickly. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and put her dark curly hair in a pony tail. She got her curls from her grandmother, she also got her dimple from her grandmother, just one. She had light brown eyes and a few freckles scattered on her nose. Her skin was pretty fair considering her whole family had olive skin.

She got dressed in a pair of black jeans and a grey tank top. "Bom dia, Cici." Her grandmother greeted her. "Bom dia" She said excitedly and gave her grandmother a kiss on the cheek. Cecilia's Portuguese wasn't very good.  She could understand it well but when she spoke she was too slow, so her family and friends opted to just speak to her in English.

"I'm off to see Maria." Cecilia said slipping on her sneakers. "You don't want something to eat?" her grandmother asked. "That's ok, bye, love you." She rushed out the door and ran down the cobble stone street. "What do you want for lunch?" Cecilia"s grandmother yelled after her, Cecilia just laughed. Her grandmother always loved to feed people, especially Cecilia. One day last summer she ate six eggs for breakfast.

After about ten houses she stopped at the smallish grey stone house with a black door. Ceclia knocked on the door once and before she could knock again Maria had answered the door. "FINALLY!" Maira said hugging Cecilia and jumping up and down. "I missed you so much." Cecilia said smiling. "I missed you too, I have so much to tell you." She said as she pulled Cecilia into her house. "My parents are at work so I can tell you all the gossip." Maria laughed as they both sat on her white couch in the living room.