"You learned to do everything with one hand and to hug me with the other"

Maria José dos Santos Silva was better known as Mazé. She lived a life dedicated to caring: she was a nursing technician for 30 years in Fortaleza and São Paulo. But not only at work, this 71-year-old from Ceará took care of others. “You learned to do everything with one hand and to hug me with the other,” writes her daughter Maria Cristiane. Mazé was one of the victims of covid-19 in Brazil. She left behind three children, a daughter, a husband and a grandson. And many memories that are spilled in the letter written by Cristiane: "Your love is to blame that I am not satisfied with anything." Read the full text of a daughter's message to her mother below.

"Letter to mom

My mother, I don't know how much I love you and I love you. Yes, you must have been able to imagine it very well, because there is no person in this world who is capable of loving as intensely as you.

I am trying, but I am not able to express everything that comes out of my heart in a few words when I think of you. You were a great woman, full of titles that you did not brag about, and so strong that you could face it all before something stood in front of the happiness of those you loved the most.

The sun may cloud forever;

the sea may dry up in an instant;

the axis of the earth may be broken

like a weak crystal.

Everything will happen! Will death

cover me with his funereal crepe;

but it can never be turned off in me

the flame of your love.

- Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

When I was a child I thought you were some kind of superhero. That was a long time ago. Today I am totally convinced that you really were. Inflamed with love, at every moment you had to take care of my wounds on my knees and my heart, you healed all my pains with your kisses.

My nurse and my nanny, my confidant, my life teacher, my eternal companion. You always knew how to value my efforts and my concerns, and one day you told me how to acquire all those great skills, because being your daughter is a great privilege, and I want my son to feel the same. My mother, by your true love, I am guided.

Although you often felt tired, I always saw in your eyes that you never bowed down to the battles of your daily life. You also taught me that, and I will always remember that your courage and strength served to create a family that also has enormous strength.

Why am I so sure? For many reasons, but among other things, because for many years you were a sword and shield for the whole family, of the purest and hardest steel, and now there is a great army that will always protect your legacy in your memory.

Your love is to blame for my not being satisfied with anything, for always wanting more and for learning to look at life every evening again. You have already preached with your example the most important values ​​I have: to love with all my heart, to have one hand to give and the other to receive, to be humble and to be proud of me and my family.

You have fought against all odds, you have calmed the most terrible storms, I have always found a space to take refuge in you, mother, in your true love, between your heart and your embraces.

Thanks to you today I know that my achievements belong to me and that my dreams have no expiration date. When I felt small, you wrapped me in your arms and filled your kisses with the emptiness that led me to despair. Thank you for being patient when I couldn't see my mistakes and for having superhuman strength that eased the load off my back so that I suffered less.

You are still my greatest privilege and my greatest gift. You deserve everything and more, because you gave me life. Today I know that your anguish and your hopes were for me, as well as your greatest joy and your great pride.

You learned to do everything with one hand, and to hug me with the other, you "slept" with one eye open until you saw that I came home after a night of partying. You gave me a piece of cake, you learned to name hundreds of dolls, you had the patience to know me and know what I think and feel.

Thank you for being the teacher of my life, for always being my guardian angel, for lightening my load, for giving your heart full of love and for always giving me the necessary impulse to achieve the impossible.

Thank you, my mother, for your true love.

From your daughter: Maria Cristiane

To: Maria José dos Santos Silva

Fortaleza, August 2020 “.

The story of Maria José dos Santos Silva was contacted on the Inumeráveis project website

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