Speaking Portuguese Again

Learning Portuguese was possibly the only good thing that came out of dating a Brazilian soccer player for 3 years during college. But after the split, I could only speak this new language far and few between, as cutting him out meant all those I always spoke Portuguese with as well. Enter a new pup in my life almost ten years down the line, a beautiful baby girl, my first, and suddenly.... the revival of Portuguese. Turns out, she speaks it too! Well, she listens in Portuguese. Very well in fact, better than when I speak to her in English. So now I get to bond with my girl through a language we share, when I was beginning to feel learning it was simply wasted.

I get to speak in this beautiful foreign tongue to tell her things like 'boa menina' (good girl), 'ven aqui' (come here) and 'Ooooo e para voce!' (It's for you baby girl!) as I'm holding peanut butter toast warm from the oven. She loves it, Minha amor.

Crazy thing is I spoke to the neighbors dog the other day in Portuguese as well, asking her where her bone was, and she led me right to it. Perhaps all dogs speak Portuguese? Either way, it just goes to show the beauty in how things decompose and grow again. De sujeira cresce flores selvagens.