Memories ... (still)

I can't remember the day I was born, but according to my Mother and other people who gathered to see me soon after I came out of the room I was born in (traditionally in middle class and well to do families, the act of giving birth was confined to the household, though  "conducted" by a doctor or an accredited midwife), I looked like a "gipsy", because of  the huge amount of hair and a slightly darker skin than it would have been expected (or even appreciated) ...

My "fate" had been "anticipated" then  (I  physically looked  a lot more like my father and his "side" of the family - the Andrades, than I did my Mother and her side of the family - the Guerras) ... I am sure (though I haven't been told) that a  couple of  those old  and "wiser" members of the family together with the servants (who were supposed to copy every movement they made) must have promptly kneeled and prayed to the Lord above, begging him not to let me have any other resemblance to the Andrades (being quite an interesting person, my father, irrespective of having the same social status of my Mother, was considered "ideologically weird"), which was not at all advisable.

I would later in my  life conclude they were right in having had all those fears, though I would rather substitute the word "weird" by "ahead of his time", which taking into account the Portuguese society of the epoch, didn't particularly "favour" him.

These are  my first photos. According to my Mother (who was 32 years old then) I was a few months old and the photos were taken at the Rheumathology Institute where she worked as a doctor.  The two girls (sisters) beside me in one of the photos - the Branquinho girls,  would later get even closer to our family, as Maria José (to be seen on the right) got married to my brother  Miguel.

My judgement may be bias, but though I can easily be identified as "an Andrade specimen" ... I don't look that "bad" ...

It was my birthday yesterday ... and looking through some old photos I came across this one taken on my seventh birthday party (one of the few parties I remember and probably the only one where I am to be seen smiling). Sitting next to me is my Grandmother (on my mother's side), who brought me up until I was nine years old.

I may still resemble the "Andrades" ... I may even bear their name ... but (for the record) ... as an adult I have "identified" myself a lot more with the  strong personality of the "Guerras" ... (particularly the women).