I’ve always thought that you can’t know where you’re going, if you don’t acknowledge where you’ve been. For good or bad, every step in your life leaves a mark. Like in this picture. I’m pretty sure this is a photo of me for my passport when we were leaving Cuba. I must have been about 3 or so. My parents were already in the U.S. and my maternal grandparents were watching my sister and me. We were stuck in Cuba because the Castro regime had taken away our passports because my parents had left. Soldiers would come and harass the family regularly. My parents finally found a way to get us out and to get us in the U.S. It was a scary time in my life and I think it shows in this photo. I think inside of me there is still that scared little girl at times until the woman I’ve become rises up and reminds me that surviving all that has made me strong.
#ThrowbackThursday Me and My Curls
I think this photo was taken in Cuba before we escaped to the U.S. Those years in Cuba were tough times for my family. My parents and brother were already in America, my brother to avoid being conscripted into the militia and my parents to avoid jail for turning against Castro. It took my parents nearly two years to get us out of Cuba. During that time, Castro’s men would regularly come by the house and toss it. My grandmother would hide us under the bed while that happened.
I’m told that for years I was afraid of anyone in a uniform, but I don’t really remember much about those years. My first memories are of being in the United States, my new home. Of being both sad, but happy to finally be with my family.
When you think of booking a trip to Cuba, please think about the decades of misery heaped on others by the Castros who will be the ones benefiting from your trip.
My hair was a lot lighter in this photo and I only have a little bit of blonde left in the front. The curls are gone, although I still have wavy hair when it’s a little longer.
#ThrowbackThursday My Mom and Brother in Cuba
Cuba has been in the news a lot lately and for many of us who left, it’s been an emotional upheaval. People ask me all the time if I will go back and I have to explain how difficult the Cuban government makes it for us to visit. Besides, the Castros made my family’s life miserable, so why would I go back so long as they’re alive?
But, I thought I’d share this photo of my mom and brother in Cuba before the Castro dictatorship took hold and created the diasporo that exiled so many Cubans all around the world and in the United States.
