But when I made the choice to move to the UK, I suddenly understood the impulse people have to mark something permanently, to say, This will never change. “What does it mean?” Izzy asks. “Sow . . . da-day?” “Saudade. Sow-da-dee.” Izzy has another go. She doesn’t quite get the final syllable right, but still, I like the sound of Portuguese on her tongue. “It means . . . missing. Longing. There’s no English word like it. I got the tattoo when I knew I would be moving away from my family—my mum, my sister, and my grandmother. And my grandfather, too, who passed away not long before. That side of
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