Remembering is also traveling

Now, when there is no choice but to stay at home, when the hours are filled with uncertainty, and the life we were leading just a few weeks ago seems to be someone else's, we value what was once unimportant, we feel lucky for every square meter of space we can inhabit, and the conversation with our loved ones is the best thing that happens during the day.
Now that I can't go out, I remember a time when I would have given my life to stay cooped up in one place. My parents, convicted and proud diplomats, gave us the gift of a nomadic way of life and we spent our childhood unpacking to settle again, and again and again. At first I didn't know there was any other life than that, but sometime before adolescence, I began to build up a feeling of anger towards them so great that the slamming of doors and shouts of frustration still ring in my ears when a new destination came up at home. I would lock myself in my room and beg my walls, whatever city I was in, to protect me from continuing to meet more people and new places. 

It was then that my grandparentsalarmed by my parents, they wrote me a letter. 
"Manuela, little one, there are no walls that can stop the journeys your mind will invite you to take. You have packing in your DNA, and no matter how angry you are, we are convinced that these trips will be the fuel of your life. 
You may be about to discover one of life's great paradoxes: when you need quiet, you'll be traveling from one place to another, and when you don't even know where you sleep anymore, from so many changes of bed, you'll be longing to go back. You will always long for a different place, a different conversation, a more affectionate embrace. What you have to do, dear granddaughter, is not to let it sour your character. You have to turn it around so that memories sweeten the bitter moments, and melancholy helps you appreciate the happier ones. If you get it, you won't need any more baggage. That's where you'll get your energy, your experience and your culture. 
Don't let the fact that you're not where you want to be keep you from enjoying where you are. Make the most of it, love. So dry your tears, get in your room, breathe, slow down and when you're ready come back out with renewed energy ready to eat the world because, the world is your walls."

Those were my grandparents' words of encouragement so many years ago, and strangely enough they have come back to me to help me to better understand this situation. 
Dear Manuelas, when the world stopped a few days ago, we were about to photograph our new collection, a new destination that will surely make you dream and wish that those pink, green and blue brushstrokes are part of your most beautiful corners, but until we can tell you about that trip, we invite you to take another one to the most special moments of these years together, since this way of living is called Lo de Manuela. One of our greatest maxims, of which we feel very proud, is that our collections do not expireThey are so beautiful and adapt so well to your soul that they can be perfectly combined with each other. We want to take advantage of this unusual circumstance to help you understand what we stand for with so much faith. Collections don't die, they adapt, recycle, revive... so you can fall in love again and again with your objects. 
What you will see are photographs and iconic pieces from each collection that will serve as an excuse to tell you other trips, other stories, other memories. Now that we can't travel, get ready to visit with us some cities in Africa, Russia, Brazil and those dotted around the Mediterranean. Remembering is also traveling.
May the walls never stop your travels or your dreams.