Hi Captain Joongie,
I have more old stories to tell you, get ready 😊. Go get a nice strawberry and yogurt smoothie before you start 😁😁, I am just joking.
Katia, Kelly and I were listening to some old songs today, songs that we used to listen to when we were children. There is this singer that I like because he has always been my mum’s favourite singer in Brazil. His name is Roberto Carlos, people call him “O Rei”, meaning “The King”. He is very loved in Brazil. I am pretty sure that I already wrote to you about him before.
One of the songs we listened to was Katia’s favourite song by him, and she told us why she loves that song, the reason is because our uncle loved that song too and that they used to sing it together, they even had a little choreo for it. This uncle of ours passed away a long time ago. And he is my inspiration for this letter today.
There are people who pass by our lives and leave a huge great impression, they make a very positive impact. They leave so much light that we will forever think of them with our hearts full of love.
I have two people like this in my life, although many people left awesome impressions in my life, these two people are the two most important people in my life as a child and young adult.
One of them is my uncle Eraldo, the one that made Katia love that song so much. He was married to my dad’s sister.
He was such an awesome person! I barely remember his face but I remember his love, I remember his energy.
He passed away when I was only 5 years old and he was a bit over 30. But I remember really well the day he died as if I was there now, every detail. Kelly was only 1 year old.
We still talk a lot about him when we get together with my cousin (his son).
We all still love him so much!
He was the person who inspired me to love pets, specially dogs.
I remember being very very loved and protected by him.
The other person is my grandad (my mum’s dad), he died about 20 years ago. I wrote about him before in other letters to you.
I gave him so much love during his life, I have no regrets with our relationship. We travelled together, we sang together, we watched so many things together, we laughed so so so much together. He made me very happy and proud of him! I will always and forever be grateful for having him in my life. I know he still takes care of me and my sisters, and also his great-grandchildren .
My grandad taught me to love nature and to love travelling.
He gave me many wise advices to be able to deal with the difficult parts of my life, we used to talk so much, as friends.
I remember sitting by his side and talking about life. He used to ask what is troubling me lately, and I would tell him, and he would tell me what he would do if it was with him.
I still remember the smell of his working place. And I remember that we used to go "shave our beards with grandad". We had a song that we used to sing to go with him, I will translate: "I will go, I will go... to shave my beard with my grandad". In Portuguese it rhymes 🤣. "Eu vo, eu vo... cortar a barba com meu vo!"
Obviously we did not shave our beards... 😅. We were children and my grandad had the old manual shaver, the one that you need to put the lamina/ blade to cut, so there was no cutting surface (I will add a picture of it here). It was harmless.
But he would put the shaving cream on our faces to look the same as his. It was a delicious moment, I still remember it and feel so much love from him. His smile was so beautiful and light.
I am extremely grateful and happy to have had these two bright people in my life! And I know they are very proud of who I became and all my efforts and achievements.
I miss them, I miss them very much! But I know they are always with me.
It is incredible how one person can make so much impact on our lives!
I hope you have people in your life that make this kind of positive impact and that you will always think of them with your heart very full of love.
So, in their honour I will recommend two songs that they used to like.
From my uncle Eraldo, I will recommend the song that Katia also likes: “Fim De Semana” by Roberto Carlos.
https://youtu.be/bbYkr9QXXhQ
From my grandad Dovilio, I will recommend a country song. He used to love country as a genre the most, so here is one of the songs we used to listen together: “Nuvem De Lagrimas” by Chitaozinho & Xororo.
https://youtu.be/LaKTCM7yNXY
These are very old and very culture-heavy songs. I hope you enjoy the uniqueness of both songs.
Brazilian music is very rich. There are many genres and good singers. From very sad to very happy songs. Many songs to dance as a couple but also to just dance and vibe energetically.
I am sure you will love Brazil when you go. I have to save money to go when you go.
I hope this letter showed you a bit more about me and my life. I hope it made you happy. Even though these two incredible men are not alive anymore, they still make me happy, so it is not a sad letter. I hope you felt the energy and love from the stories.
This letter reminded me of other stories that I want to tell you. Oh… but I will need to choose wisely which ones to add to the next letters.
I hope you still like reading my letters, maybe one day you will tell me.
Please remember to take breaks and drink enough water, I will try my best to do that too. 😘
Karen Navas
🦋From KaNavas🦋
My list of some of the songs that I recommended to you: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL16WorsdEaYEoadTS2u5fD1LQpUV7qpK3