33

this photo has always been one of my favourites. Not because of me, I don't think I was a particularly cute baby, but I love the expression on my parents' faces in it. My mom passed away more than 2 years ago, but had she still been alive her birthday would've been exactly 5 days before mine. She was a strong woman of impeccable taste (I like to think that some of it actually rubbed off on me) and is and always will be my greatest inspiration.



this second photo is from my 1st birthday party, back when we still lived in Mozambique. Because we came to Portugal when I was so young, I don't really have any vivid recollections of our life there, but when I look at these old family photos I wish so much that I did. Life was different then (or so I've always been told) and in these photos everyone just seems to be having so much fun. Always.
Ever since I remember celebrating a birthday I've shared this day with two other people from my family, both my cousins. The one you see on this photo (in the yellow sweater) is my dear cousin Alexandra, who is 5 years older than me. I don't have any photos of Andre, my other cousin (and although I'm sure he doesn't read this, he might someday and he wouldn't find it very funny if I had posted a photo of him anyway). And because I won't be with either of them today, I just wanted to wish them a very Happy Birthday. So, dearest cousins, a very, very Happy Birthday to us all :)