Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Kindness of Strangers


For the past year or so of our time in Brazil we have frequented a little cafe tucked within a local mall called Casa do Pão de Queijo...you could say it's our new Starbucks. We arrive usually just as neighboring stores are opening and we eat way more pão de queijo than we should, sip cappuccinos, eat açaí and talk about the week gone by and the week to come. It is even tiny Clem's favorite spot. 


We aren't the only regulars, usually a table of coffee klatch retirees who look a bit like the Brazilian moffia, with black leather fanny packs, transitions lenses and cigarettes at tables clearly marked "No Smoking." But, they remind me of my Granddad's old coffee club so I feel comfortable in their presence. Smoking, or non. 

Located directly next door is a ladies shoe store called "ED":


Usually we find a spot to the far left of the outdoor seating area, keeping our clan just out of the center of the restaurant at tiny cafe table for two, that we beef up with four chairs and a stroller.

ED for the past nine months or more has had a whimsical window display of origami cranes and a rainbow of colors that the boys study and marvel at and just beyond that works a quiet and beautiful Brazilian girl by the name of Leticia.

She always smiles and waves at the boys from behind the display window and one day a while back began to tear pieces of receipts from the Cielo to fold little white origami birds for each of the boys each and every time we arrived. The boys wait patiently munching pão de queijo, mouths rimmed with açaí mustaches, watching her fold and giggling anxiously from their plastic cane seats. Each Saturday or Sunday that she completes the birds she sweetly gestures for the boys to come and retrieve the cranes and they cross from our table together into the store and return beaming, flying the cranes through the air.


As I began to think about saying goodbye to our favorite spots and of some of the people that made such a profound impact on our time in Brazil, I thought about Leticia.  Whether she had just arrived to open the store, had four customers to tend to, or would have just liked to take a break from her post within her mother's store, she always took time to take special care of our boys whom she didn't know at all and quite frankly didn't have to care about. I felt like leaving without saying "thank you and tchau" just wouldn't have been right, but didn't know how to thank her for such a simple gift that meant so much to us. 

So we talked about it with the boys and decided to make a special stop at the grocery store this morning on our way to coffee. Both Sam and Peter scanned the floral department and finally decided on tiny potted violets, in pink and purple. We had them wrapped in paper and we headed to the cafe.

When she arrived to open the store this morning, with a gleaming smile for the boys, she scarcely dropped her bag and turned on the lights when she paused behind the counter to begin to fold the tiny cranes.

When they were ready, she walked out and handed one to each of the boys and one today to Clem. The boys in turn each handed her a tiny potted violet. 


We scarcely speak the same language and until today never exchanged more than a simple "obrigado," but the beautiful friendship that was made today from the kindness of a stranger, on the cusp of the holiday season, on the eve of our voyage out of Brazil and in the midst of a tragedy in the media was enough to heal a million hearts.

I snapped a photo, we exchanged names, emails, facebook addresses and tears and headed off to enjoy the rest of our last Sunday in Brazil.  

I think we are all thankful we didn't let this moment pass us by.




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