“It’s funny how things turned out, because I was never a brave...

“It’s funny how things turned out, because I was never a brave mother in the beginning.  I was very fearful.  Gabi never learned to ride a bike because I was so scared that she’d fall down and break a bone.  In Brazil especially, there seems to be a belief that daughters are made of glass and crystal.  But soon enough I realized, I need to raise her like I am: not embarrassed to eat by herself, or go to a movie by herself, or raise a daughter by herself. So I pushed her to be more independent.  In 2015 we were listening to a lot of news stories about the Syrian refugee crisis.  Gabi was fifteen by then, and she already spoke very good English.  So she was determined to help.  We organized a trip to the Greek island of Lesvos, where many of the refugees were landing.  During that trip my daughter turned into a woman right before my eyes.  Not only a woman, a giant.  She helped thousands of people out of boats.  I was so freaking worried.  Some of these people had hypothermia, so I thought someone might die in front of her.  But Gabi was so energized.  She never grew tired.  And by the time we got home, everything had changed.  She wanted to do more.  She went back to Greece on her next vacation,  but this time she went alone.  Since then she’s been all over the world helping refugees.  It’s her life now.  There have been articles about her.  She was even in a textbook  You know, back when I was pregnant with Gabi, I had this silly idea that I needed to become a great journalist.  So that my daughter would be proud of me one day.  And she’d tell her friends at school about me.  But that never happened.  My daughter is the one to be proud of.  And I’m here to clear the way for her.  Like Sarah Connor in the Terminator movie.  Recently I retired from journalism so that I could open a flower company.  Gabi owns fifty percent of the company, and we use the profits to fund her volunteer work.  So I might not be a famous journalist.  But I’m a fucking good mother.”
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