Twenty-plus years ago, Fabio Freitas was an exchange student in Moncks Corner. My time as an exchange student in Melbourne, Australia overlapped Fabio's in Moncks Corner by 6 months so I didn't get to know him until the end of his year there. Jimmy and Fabio were great friends and spent a lot of time together during that year.
One of the first things we did when we moved to Brasilia in 2005 was to re-connect with Fabio who lives in the city of Rio Preto in Sao Paulo state. Fabio and his wife Claudia visited us in Brasilia once and we visited them in Rio Preto once over the course of our time in Brasilia.
Then we moved to Sao Paulo and Rio Preto was just a 4-hour drive away, so we spent many long weekends and holidays with Fabio and his extended family there. It's there that I met Gisele, my BBFF and Fabio's older sister who lives in Sao Paulo. Meeting her and her husband and their girls opened up so much for us in Sao Paulo. It really was a huge part of the reason that we all loved our time in that city so much.
And having our Brazilian "family" was so special. They included us in holiday events as if we were blood. And so it was a no-brainer that when we planned our return trip to Sao Paulo for vacation that we would go to Rio Preto for Easter weekend.
We flew in on Wednesday afternoon, were met at the airport by Fabio, and went straight to Fabio's parents' house to spend a few nights. It was such a special reunion with Dona Amelia and Sr. Daniel, Fabio and Claudia and their girls, and Fabio's younger sister Simone and her husband Caca and their children. Gisele, Flavio and their girls drove in later that evening.
For happy reunions with such dear friends, I am truly grateful.
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