@fearless.lee: One of my earliest memories is spending summers in NY 🌆 visiting abuelo and the rest of our fam. I’d walk down from the apartment and play in the courtyard — climbing on a rickety silver jungle gym surrounded by tall, brick red buildings spotted with windows 🧱🪟 Warm lights. Hot air. No AC 🍧 My father’s parents moved from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷🏝️ to the Bronx, NY in 1954 in the wake of economic and post-WWII hardship. He was instructed by his father to blend in, speak English. He spent years suppressing his identity and living a double life. 🪢 It was always his struggle. This mentality followed him for many years and eventually was practiced also in our home 🏡 Spanish was my first language. By the time I was ready for school my mother spoke little English, but to ensure his children did not struggle the same way he did, he insisted we only speak English from then on. 🇺🇸 I stopped speaking Spanish in PreK and now have a classic case of “I understand Spanish but I don’t speak it” — We did, however, retain the music, traditions and food of Puerto Rico 🍛🎶🎉 so I am grateful for those experiences. My siblings and I have always felt out of place. We didn’t belong in PA farm country (where my father moved for work) bc we were not white ❌ We weren’t “real Puerto Ricans” to our extended family bc we didn’t speak Spanish ⚠️ the term for us now would pretty much be “no sabo kids”. I thought I had made my peace ☮️ with who I am and but seeing the Bad Bunny concert clips and reading the comments of THOUSANDS of other ppl like me, describing their stories of displacement and disconnect in our identities🪞ignited something. I’ve gotten so emotional seeing this historical event unfold 🌎 and I realized that I do have “my people” and many of them are undergoing a Great Pilgrimage back to the island, rediscovering our roots. I realize now that the supression of who I am and my identity is a form of generational trauma. ❤️‍🩹 To try and heal this, I’ve decided to expand our homeschool curriculum this year to teach them about our family and cultural history, their cultural history 🇵🇷 and someday soon, take them to visit our family in Puerto Rico as well. ✈️

Lydia+Two

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Region: US

Thursday 21 August 2025 18:21:50 GMT