Acts of love

Every family has its blessings and challenges. My own family isn’t different. We have struggled with some difficult situations, sometimes too heavy for one single member to bear. We have helped each other through the years, each one according to their capabilities. Many times we just need a small gesture, it’s enough. Without a doubt, they are acts of love.

A video call

Living abroad isn’t easy, you can feel very lonely. I know everyone has busy lives, it’s difficult to synchronize our schedules. But I love when anyone from my family invite me to a video call. It’s super important for me to keep in touch.

Every now and then, one of them will call me, just to check in. A quick video chat. A few minutes. Sometimes we talk about nothing important, sometimes we just laugh. These calls aren’t frequent. When they do come, they feel like small lifelines. It’s like someone reaching through the distance to say, “Hey, you still belong here.”

Some help with bureaucracy

They also help with things I can’t take care of from this side of the world. Living in Canada, it’s hard to manage certain things back in Brazil. These include paperwork, small bureaucracies, or even just keeping tabs on what’s happening in the neighborhood. But my family steps in. Quietly, without fuss, they take care of those things. And they never make me feel guilty for needing the help.

Taking care of my dad

Most meaningful of all: they took care of my dad when I couldn’t be there. In his final days, when he was bedridden, they were the ones who stayed by his side. I was thousands of miles away. They were his company, his caretakers, his strength. And in doing that, they took care of me too. Because they gave him what I couldn’t, and that’s a gift I’ll never forget.

There’s something beautiful in how ordinary all of this is. No spotlight, no big words—just a quiet love, steady and unfailing.

Sometimes the kindest things aren’t the ones shouted from rooftops. They are the ones whispered in the background. These acts are carried out with tenderness and patience. And if these are not acts of love, I don’t know what is.