Lives of courage, resilience, and the will to endure

A COMPLETE WOMAN – Monte Verde & Family

I was born 45 years ago in Ribeira Grande. I had a short childhood because my father took me out of school at a very young age to work in the restaurant he opened with my mother 38 years ago. I don’t remember playing with dolls.

Initially, there was no money to pay employees. As the oldest of four children and the only girl, I left school in the 5th grade and began working as a waitress at 11. I painted my nails to feel older, but only one of each color, because I was a child.

It was only later that I went back to school at night to finish sixth grade, which was the minimum requirement to get a driver’s license.

All these years have passed, and everything is fine. We are a very close-knit family. My parents are retired, but they still work and guide us to ensure a smooth transition of the restaurant’s management to me and my brother, Flávio. We are the ones who have always worked in the restaurant, I as a cook and he as a maître d’. My second brother runs the bar next door, and my youngest brother, who was born with a health problem that makes it difficult for him to move around, is also a fighter. He has undergone many surgeries and is happy as a DJ. He attends many festivals on São Miguel.

I would love to be a veterinarian because I have a real passion for animals, as does my brother Flávio. In my case, I’m not sure if it’s passion or an illness. (laughs)

Since I was little, if I saw a dead bird on the ground, I held a funeral for it: I dug a little hole in the ground, put it in a box, and buried it. One day, I saw a little rabbit and clung to it, crying because I wanted to bring it home.

Today, my home is shared by me, my husband, my son, two stray cats, a turtle, and a Pitbull dog that my mother-in-law gave to my husband. She wouldn’t hurt a fly and is my son’s greatest protector.

Life didn’t allow me to become a veterinarian, but I don’t blame my father for that. He built a future for his children in the best way he could.

We always knew that my parents needed us, and we needed them. So we never wasted time bringing each other’s shortcomings to our attention. They value us, help us a lot, and are understanding people.

The restaurant serves fish, which I enjoy—I was raised eating fish—but I’m a vegetarian, so I can’t eat meat. Only fish and salads. Sometimes I still eat chicken, but God forbid I ever had to kill one! My brother Flávio is the same way. We work well together because we share similar personalities, which is essential for effective collaboration. My brother has many good ideas, and we often think alike. If my brother hadn’t wanted to run the restaurant with me, I wouldn’t have had the courage to do it alone. Together, we share the load, which is heavy.

Here, we have a team of 15 people, consisting of 10 in the kitchen and five in the dining room. My father is still at the grill, and my mother is with me in the kitchen. She is still beautiful.

I work long hours and we serve many meals, with a level of quality that we do not compromise. But almost every day I come home and lie on the floor with neck pain caused by a hernia. I also have carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes weakness in my hands, so much so that I can’t even lift the lid off the grill. But my brother is willing to learn everything I do, so that we can always run the kitchen, which is the engine of this business.

Monte Verde is a family. It even brought me my husband, of whom I am very proud, without regard for prejudice.

At the age of 30, I had a son from a relationship that didn’t work out, or rather, gave me the right son. Eight years later, I met João at the restaurant, a young man who came here to work, but he wasn’t just any young man. He was an extremely mature, responsible, sensible, polite, peaceful man. João was 19 and I was 38, but it was an inevitable relationship. Our mothers found it strange, our fathers accepted it right away, and we got married. Time has proven that there is no age limit for love. João is not only my husband, but also my best friend.

Time has only brought me good things. I am much happier today than I was as a child. I have a son who is my life, I have my parents and siblings with whom I get along very well, a work team that I enjoy, and a five-star husband. I feel like a complete woman, but I would be nothing without them!

MHB

In Us Within Others (Nós nos outros)

https://www.facebook.com/nosnosoutros

Welcome to Stories from the Azores: Lives Between Oceans, a living archive of voices shaped by insularity, the sea, and survival. These stories honor men and women who left, returned, or remained, carrying with them the courage to face uncertainty and the resilience to endure hardship. Each tale is rooted in the volcanic soil of the Azores, where identity is forged in wind and salt, and yet reaches beyond the islands, across oceans and generations. Together, they form a mosaic of endurance and belonging, reminding us that to live between oceans is to embody strength, stubbornness, and hope. We thank the Nós nos Outros project for allowing us to share these stories with the Azorean Diaspora and the American and Canadian communities.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.