In 1977 I met the love of my life, Pier Paolo, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a coffee exporter there, and I was a tourist.

It was a love of two people who were lonely in a foreign country…and at the age, we were both looking for love. Tall, debonaire, sexy, and quite a wonderful personality, we fell for each other.

Upon my return to the U.S…Pier phoned me many times and asked me to return to Brazil. At first I hessitated, but quite honestly, I was very lonely and not happy and I felt like, what did I have to loose.

So, against my family’s wishes, I returned to live in Rio de Janeiro…but prior to me returning, my parents asked if Pier could come to the U.S. to meet my family which he did. When he visited the U.S., we took a trip to New York City to visit the coffee exchange so he was able to consider the trip a business trip.

We returned to Brazil, where Pier continued his work as an exporter and I began to write. I had graduated from college with a degree in Public Relations and had left a job in Boston with a PR firm. I began to write and his sister, Sunny, came to Brazil to keep me company for a while …
Our love blossomed into such a wonderful time…local restaurants, dreaming of someday marrying, even naming a “future potential sailboat” “la dolce vita”. We danced, fell so madly in love…raptuous sex…long, embraces…every night when he returned from work, he brought me fresh flowers. I was madly in love…madly. We had sex for days before his sister arrived…the days when he did not work.
We used to walk Ipanema Beach people watching.

We were truly, madly in love.

Then something happened which changed our lives forever…I accidentally became pregnant with his child. It happened so quickly…and I was not accustomed to the Brazilian hospitals…which were quite antiquated…then I felt the need to return to the U.S. to have our child.

My brother in law owned his own company which I have to leave the name out for privacy sakes…and he offered a job to Pier…in marketing…perfect.
Perfect, accept that upon our return to the U.S. my sister announced that she was divorcing my brother in law. That is when the nightmare began…she told my brother in law that if he gave Pier a job, she would divorce him and he did not want that. Eventually she divorced him anyway…but meanwhile we were pawns in a game of divorce…a bitter divorce …
Pier had to leave me in search of a job elsewhere…namely New York City. Eventually he landed a job via his family in Italy.
Pier traveled back and forth to New York City for a while.
When our son was born, 4 months later, Pier told me that he did not want me to come to New York with him. I was devastated. He hated my family and thought that what my sister and brother in law did was insane. Pier’s mother came from Italy and told me it would never work.
He moved permanently to New York, changed his phone # to an unpublished number and any mail I sent to him, he returned, unopened.
My heart was broken. I was devastated. I was so alone with a newborn. I tried to contact him on so many ocassions…there was no internet back in those days…virtually, the only way to connect was through his attorney.
I received child support checks in small amounts…and then 3 years later, I had no choice but to file for divorce to be able to move on in my own personal life…and to collect money for the support of our child.

I did move forward, met another man who at first was only a friend. He “took me and my son” under his wings…for many years. Eventually, we married…I wanted to give my son a “normal life”…and my new husband did do that…coached him in baseball, basketball, and other sports.

Meanwhile, I always wondered what had happened to Pier. Deep down, I always loved him and hoped that some day I would see him again.

And I will continue this on my next blog.
Thank You…
Avery

(Screen) Name: avery

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