my mom met my dad at 19, got married, moved to portugal at 20, had me at 21, had to learn an entire new language while raising 2 obnoxious little boys on a very modest salary, somehow making ends meet. there were at least a few occasions where they had to go hungry to keep us fed. all the while, us kids had no concept of this, i always felt like we had everything we needed. truly a testament to how they hid the challenges of life from us. time and time again they put us before themselves and i really didn’t appreciate it or acknowledge it at the time, but time gives you that perspective and it’s pretty clear now.