Showing 4 of 24 memories
1987
Clara was born in 1987. Everybody told me I would forget the difficult parts afterward. This was a lie. I remember being exhausted and scared and very annoyed at anyone who told me to relax. Then suddenly there she was. Tomás cried immediately. I didn't. I remember looking at her and thinking, very clearly, that's Clara. There wasn't really another name after that.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
1982
I knew I was home before I was really outside the airport. The doors opened and the heat hit me. I'd forgotten how heavy the air could feel here. Mexico City could be hot but it wasn't this. This was like walking into something. Mami cried when she saw me. Papá didn't, but he hugged me for a very long time. For the first few weeks everybody kept asking when I was going back to Mexico and I kept saying I didn't know. Eventually I realized I wasn't going back. The strange thing was that Puerto Rico didn't feel exactly like home anymore either. I had spent almost five years missing it and then I came back and felt slightly out of place. That lasted longer than I expected.
Mexico City, Mexico · San Juan, Puerto Rico
1977
I went to Mexico thinking I would stay six months. I had a friend of a friend there and somewhere I could sleep when I arrived. That was basically the entire plan. Mami was convinced something terrible was going to happen to me. Papá was quieter about it, which somehow made leaving harder. I remember packing Rayuela because apparently that was essential, while forgetting several things I actually needed. Mexico City overwhelmed me immediately. I had never lived anywhere that big. For the first few weeks I was constantly lost. Six months became a year without me really deciding anything. Then another year. I stayed almost five.
Puerto Rico · Mexico City, Mexico
~1974
I didn't really decide to leave the university. I just started going less and less until eventually I wasn't going at all. My father kept asking when I was going back. For a while I kept saying next semester. I was working and taking pictures and going out too much and I had no idea what I wanted to study. Everybody else seemed to have some kind of plan, although now I suspect most of them didn't either. For years I was embarrassed that I never finished. I'm not anymore.
Río Piedras, Puerto Rico
