How I travel with my mother as a digital nomad, something I will be proud of in the future

On a day like any other I found out that mothers die

The message in the group was lacerating.

"Friends, these are the hardest words I've ever written in my life. My mother passed away this morning. The funeral will be at 3 pm."

That day, I realized that moms die.

This friend is my age. We went to college together. We worked at the same company. And then, an unexpected tragedy occurred to him on a day like any other.

Until then, the closest thing I had experienced was my grandmother's death. But grandmothers are not mothers, they are grandmothers.

Two weeks before, a friend of my ex-girlfriend had died of cancer at 26. And a month later, the pandemic began.

Those days changed my worldview. I can't even imagine the pain one feels when they lose their mother or when parents lose their children so young.

It was a very reflective period. And one of the conclusions was that I would do anything to create good memories with my mommy.

Three months before this, I had taken her to Northeastern Brazil, on her first plane trip. She loved the travel, and we planned to do others, a plan interrupted by the pandemic.

As soon as the pandemic smoothed, we went twice to Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo.

Recently, I decided to change my life radically. I quit my job, became a nomad, and have no home. And I am wondering: how to fit trips with my mother into this routine?

Simple, by fitting them in. As a nomad with a "base" in São Paulo, I try to visit my parents in Avaré every 40 or 50 days, nothing much different from what I have done in the last 14 years.

And once every semester, I will take a trip with her. Instead of me going to Avaré, she comes to São Paulo, and from São Paulo we take a car or plane to our destination.

That's what we're doing this week. After watching Brazilian soap operas set in the Rio de Janeiro capital for decades, she had always wanted to visit Rio de Janeiro. And here we are.

Sightseeing in Sugar Loaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro.

Today, she returns to Avaré. I continue in Rio for another three weeks, in my nomadic life. And starting tomorrow, we'll begin planning the next semester's trip.

I'm far from wanting to pass myself off as the best son in the world. I hate this “better something” talk. Sometimes I get mad at her, sometimes she gets mad at me. But on each trip we understand each other better. Happy memories together are being created. And I'm sure I'll be proud of this in the future.

What about you? What memorable trip have you taken or are you planning with your mom as an adult? Share in the comments.