Brazil is full of people's stories that came out of nothing. My family was one of them, and this is a tale of the financial increases of my family life after my mother decided to move to this small town called Araruama. But I must give you guys a little context before that.



The silver spoon was not born to my family with their lips. My mom went to the poor people's boarding school run by nuns. Once a month, she'd see her mom. My grandmother, who is nearly 90 years old, lived very rural in the 30s and 40s, and the world was poorer at the time. Children from its region earned only the 4th grade. She was unschooled. She was a sewer all her life and a single mother with three children.


On the other hand, my father had parents from the northeast of Brazil, who emigrated to the southeast of Brazil where all the major cities are. The northeast is like the south of the USA, where people are mostly poorer, more traditional, and less educated, the Northeast was by then the poorest region of Brazil. They went to Rio de Janeiro. Much as elsewhere, there are more possibilities for people to migrate into larger cities. His father was a doorman for his entire life, his mother a housewife.


The young adult life of my parents, my mother got a job in a large State-owned corporation, a pretty decent job, and my father had trouble getting a job in the military (you have to do a test like a competition). But eventually, he managed to do so, a military career is a very solid career in Brazil because you get a better rank and an increase after a few years. Even with above-average employment, they couldn't afford a decent home in a good neighborhood. I don't know why Rio is so costly in real estate, including in chaotic neighborhoods, But my mother wanted to move to a smaller town in a nice neighborhood and buy a good home, so we moved.



Their longtime friends


The long-standing mates of my parents were Tanya and Paulo, their lives had been almost identical until a moment ago. Then, when my family moved away, everything changed. In this small town, our old friends would stay at our place for carnival. Here is where it gets interesting, my family starts making more money we were able to buy other houses then we start renting them. We did very well with income, not wealthy but certainly above middle class. In short, our life was financially overwhelming in comparison to our lifelong friends. This was before the Internet was a thing, 2001-2003, my family lost touch with Tanya and Paulo. We reconnected later via Facebook in 2012.






You might be asking the whole point of this story?


The whole point is how this affects my sister and my life, we were able to go to private schools and get into good colleges. My sister is a dentist she is in her early thirties and she is one of those who have it shit together, she is married, already has a house, and works for the Army pretty solid career. I am not doing bad either, I will be a dentist too, and next year I'll get my diploma. So basically my mom’s decision of moving to Araruama back then was the best decision she ever made, my parents had financially grown and opened the door for us. Life has been much easier.



What I am trying to say with that?


That my sister and I were the same as Tanya and Paulo kids at some point in our lives, and I don't mean that in an offensive way but, if we remain still living in Rio we'd probably end up like them.





Let me explain: Tanya and Paulo had 3 girls and 2 boys, the three girls and one of the boys already have a least one child, some of them two, they are in their early 20s and others in their late 20s, they have minimum wage jobs, they do what they can in their reality. Unfortunately, they cannot afford higher education and also have to worry about raising their children. Having a kid when are you in your 20s is not the smartest decision financially speaking and I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way, I just saying is that most people in their 20s don’t make a lot of money. They have less prospect of financial growth and must work harder than my sister and me. I hope that they succeed, I am cheering for them.


Finally, it is a tale that shows how life has changed for us and how small acts, just like a butterfly effect, can cause big changes. Often my sister and I wonder about how life would be if my Mom wanted to stay in Rio it all would be different. She was a visionary, she changed our lives forever, she paved our path. She is my hero.



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