“I was going to hide at my son’s wedding because my dress was old… but when my daughter-in-law saw the green dress, she interrupted the ceremony and the whole gathering burst into tears.”

My name is Dona Teresa, I am 58 years old and I sell vegetables at a small neighborhood market in Campinas, in the interior of the state of São Paulo.

I have been a single mother almost all my life.

My son Marcos is all I have in the world.

I raised it by selling tomatoes, onions, peppers and coriander, anything I could buy early in the morning at the wholesale market.

For years, I would get up at three in the morning, carrying heavy boxes, braving the cold and the rain…

All this so that he can study.

And he succeeded.

Marcos finished his university studies and found a good job.

And one day, he came home with a smile I will never forget.

— Mom… I want to introduce you to someone.

That’s how I met Laura.

She was everything I wasn’t:

elegant, cultured, from a wealthy family.

His father was a businessman and his mother a doctor.

At first, I was afraid I would be a source of embarrassment to her.

But Laura always treated me with respect.

She always called me “Dona Teresa” with a sweet smile.

Three months before the wedding, Marcos came to see me at the fair.

“Mom, we already have the date!” he exclaimed enthusiastically.

— We’re getting married in September!

I felt immense joy…

but also a deep-seated anxiety.

Because I knew something that no one else knew.

I had nothing suitable to wear to my father’s wedding

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