Saudade

 Saudade - "Longing, melancholy, nostalgia, as a supposed characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian temperament." Oxford English Dictionary

"Saudade is a word for a sad state of intense longing for someone or something that is absent. Saudade comes from Portuguese culture, and it is often expressed in its literature and music. Saudade is described as a king of melancholy yearning. . . In Portuguese literature and music, saudade is used as a theme or a motif . . . Saudade is most often discussed in terms of its importance to Portuguese culture and for the supposed difficulty in translating it to English." Dictionary.com

"The famous saudade of the Portuguese is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness." A.F.G. Bell (from James Cave)

The concept of saudade popped up to me a couple of times yesterday, in the strange interconnected ways that only happens in Dickens novels and reality.  I completed, clumsily and painfully (my legs are not getting any better), a forty minute hike through Jerash on our NordicTrack. Experiencing Jerash made me happy (I've been there many times), but the experience also made me sad, not simply because I may never make it back to a country that I love so dearly, but also because my declining health is increasingly limiting what I can do, even much closer to home. Then, through mere happenstance, YouTube offered me up a Portuguese language series from Sandra Carapinha (which is one of the precious few things of value that YouTube has ever given me; I'm going to start following her videos, and see if she actually has a Portuguese language course). The first video of hers I saw was her description of saudade. I was already familiar with the concept (as all Lusophiles are) but her discussion was lovely (and I shared it with my students). Later I shared the entire story with some of my Jordanian veterans, and my wonderful former student Michael Manfredi sent me this picture:

I'm not certain when this was snapped, but it must be going on ten years ago. Obviously, saudade went into overdrive.