The Most Effective Relationship Advice I Have Ever Received

• Prayer
• Patience
• Peace
• Forgiveness

Or for you math majors: r = p³ + f.

Milk For The Children (and futebol)

Or leite por os filhos in the original Brazilian-Portuguese. A young carioca father said this to me in 2000, after I rebuffed his initial efforts to sell me a copy of the VHS tape he had miraculously mastered during our small cruise off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

I stopped after my final goodbye to him after disembarking, because I didn't understand what he has said at the time. This easy going man had worn several hats during our day trip including tour guide, historian, videographer, and futebol coach during our pick-up game (brasileiros contra estrangeiros as the contest was dubbed) on the destination island. He couldn't quite get my name right so he just called me Nigéria, with pride.

My Brazilian-American buddy translated, and explained the significance of leite por os filhos. The brother was hustling to support his family. I certainly could appreciate that. At first I was hesitant to buy something so touristy, but then it occurred to me that the VHS tapes he was hawking, plus the cost of the entire cruise was still just slight more than half of the cost of my ticket to the Vasco club match at Maracanã stadium I had bought via our hotel earlier that morning, and would attend the following day. We bought two videos.

Two days later I would purposefully spend a 1000% premium (about three dollars US at the time) on a mini-pack of gum being sold by two kids under the age of five on Copacana beach, at past three o'clock in the morning. Meanwhile the acquaintances who had accompanied us, didn't even acknowledge the children's presence.

It's quite possible to have jugo bonito and leite por os filhos, at a fraction of the cost.