making your own mayo

Last night, my brother and I were hanging out for a little in my Mom's room. We were talking about what my Mom did that day. She said tht she worked in the garden and remarked on how we have tons of tomatoes. I told her that I need to learn how to make sauce. My Mom then said "when I lived in Brazil, I even made my own mayonaise." You made your own MAYO?? Like with eggs???

It's not often that both of us are in the room when she starts a story, so, here is my recollection of it.

When my Mom, Dad and older sister lived in Brazil, they lived next door to Sr. Nunes and his wife and son. They were well-off in the sense that they had a TV and they helped employ my father. My Mom went on about how generous they were and they helped out my parents.

One time, my father cut his fingers on his hand and was unable to work. Sr. Nunes put him to work painting since he would only have to use his right hand. My father would paint, with his left hand across his chest resting on his right shoulder. The son, who grows up to study to be a doctor, found himself a little stick and would use this stick to hide behind my father and hit him on his left hand. My Mom started laughing at this point. Guess it was all in fun.

Here's where she started to jump around in the stories about Sr. Nunes and their time in Brazil.

The street in front of their house would periodically get flooded. On his way to and from work, my Dad used to carry his shoes (which were more like sneakers according to my Mom) in his hands to cross the stream so they wouldn't get ruined. My mom would also carry her shoes - and my sister - to cross the stream to run errands.

They faced many difficulties in Brazil. Sr. Nunes and his family though were so helpful and generous. My Mom mentioned she had a lot of toothaches while there and the Nunes family would bring her medicine, invite them over to watch TV.

That seems to have been the theme with my parents - they spent their lives surrounded by those that care and love them - and they offered their care and love in return.