Monday, April 25, 2016

4/25/1974 (US) & 25/4/1974 (Portugal)

Regardless of how I write the date, the feeling still stands that I should not be working today!

This is a day filled with historic meaning in Portugal.
Quoting Wikipedia:
“The Carnation Revolution, also referred to as the 25 April, was initially a military coup in LisbonPortugal, on 25 April 1974 which overthrew the regime of the Estado Novo. The revolution started as a military coup organized by the Armed Forces Movement composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil resistance. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor.
The name "Carnation Revolution" comes from the fact that almost no shots were fired and when the population took to the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship and war in the colonies, carnations were put into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the army men. In Portugal, the 25th of April is a national holiday, known as Freedom Day, to celebrate the event.”

[I could of wrote an explanation myself, but I just felt it would be easier to copy someone else’s work – COPY PASTE RULES!]

This was always a day of staying home with the family. Having my dad tell us how he had been woken early in the morning to go and guard the evacuation  of the prison in Peniche. My mother telling how she was running back and forth, almost 8 months pregnant with my brother, to report the news she was listening on the radio. Each member of the family that had some sort of memory of that day would share it. And despite us having heard the same reports year after year, we still asked for them and brought the topic up. And today, while sitting grudgingly at work, I miss that. I am missing out on that experience once again.


Instead I am sitting at work, trying to find electricians in KS. Every little girl’s dream… 

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