In 1947, on my twelfth birthday, my grandfather gave me a cow, with the huge promise that all cattle to be born from that animal would also be mine. And thus, year after year, my cow and I, united by the same destiny, wandered together over the dry lands.

My father, who worked as a clerk at a drugstore, and had seven children, in fact wanted to be a doctor, a physician. And he did! He entered a medical school in another state in the Northeast of Brazil, leaving wife and children with his widowed mother-in-law, without any financial support. To tell the truth, he was supported by them!

We lacked almost everything, except the model of courage, guts and faith from those two extraordinary women. At the end of six long years, my father finally came back home, bringing a physician's ring on his finger. Our life changed... And how! From muddy water to imported wine!

When I was twenty-two, I moved to Rio de Janeiro to study Architecture, against my father's wish, who wanted to see me wearing a long black priest's robe. Soon, I got a letter from my grandpa, the same who had given me the cow, which read: "Dear Grandson, I sold your cattle four years ago. I kept the money to give it to you whenever you needed it, just as now. Take care!"

I counted the money. I scratched my head... and thought... On the following day, I went shopping.