Zozó's birthday party

Today is Zozó’s birthday. In years past this has meant a full-on party with staff at the house in Itaipú for upwards of 75 people; more food than you can imagine and her signature dessert table that could satisfy the children from three elementary schools.

This year things are a bit subdued, as you might imagine. Luiz and I hosted a lunch in our apartment for about a dozen of her closest friends. We did most of the cooking, but some guests brought a few tasty additions.

Zozó has been swamped in painful transitions. She wakes up every morning looking for an anchor to get her through the day. Some of her whirlwind reality may be chalked up to her uneasy avoidance of painful silences, but in fact there are so many changes being forced on her that just keeping her head above water can be a real struggle.

Today we tried to create a calm in the storm for our birthday girl.

All the usual suspects came to celebrate. We had food, gossip, cold drink, and enthusiastic chatter.

Zozó was awash in well wishes, love, calm embraces, sincere encouragement and simple kisses. There was more food than we could eat. Everyone took a little home with them.

After everyone left we recounted the generosities of the day and were grateful for the warmth of good friends