Running for Your Life: Where Canada Meets Portugal

Last month we went to Portugal, and in the small seaside town of Nazare (famous for its world-class surf), we found a charming family-run restaurant where we ended up having most of our meals.

One evening in the restaurant we struck up a conversation with an adult foursome who we soon learned were Portuguese-Canadian from Toronto.

“How about those Leafs this year?” I said. “I mean, really, how exciting are they to watch?”

“Very!” one woman beamed. “Are you from Canada?”

“Yes, Owen Sound, north of you.”

“Of course. Small world.”

“We are big fans of the Leafs, especially now,” she went on.

“How is that?”

“Because their son,” she pointed to the second couple in the foursome, “won the Air Canada Center’s Maple Leaf fashion design completion.”

Then, Mom, takes up the conversation.

“It was such a shock for us when he made the short list.” [The winner would dress Leaf fans for the 2017-18 season when their capsule collections are produced and sold exclusively at The Toronto Maple Leafs Store.]

“Well, I can imagine.”

“And then out of the blue, I received a phone call from the prize committee. They told me my son, Richard Campos, had won the men’s division.”

“That’s the last I remember because I was so happy I fainted.”

“You fainted?!”

“Just lucky I didn’t crack my skull when I hit the kitchen floor,” she said with a wide grin. “Just fainted for sheer joy.”

We have this good friend in Brooklyn, B, who M and I have become closer to in the past few years, and it wasn’t until recently we discovered that he is of Portuguese origins – by way of Toronto.

Ha, in Canada, one finds yourself in the shadow of the United States; in Portugal, in the shadow of Spain.

Humble, small countries and friendly unassuming people who are natural givers and skilled listeners.

When it comes to Portuguese-Canadians they seem to have a double-dose of those properties.

Next: Running for Your Life: Eyes on the Sky