I really didn’t think about my roots that much until I had a child outside of my birth country. Suddenly my mind was filled with ideas of ALL the things I wanted to pass down to him. All sorts of things! Like songs that touched me deeply and were iconic in my birth country, nursery rhymes, tastes of the large variety of Chilean seafood, the colors of the Andean sunset and most specially of all: STORIES, so many stories of his family members from back then and of my country, historical figures and the long history of how we came to be as a nation, and how proud I am of it.
I would look into this newborn and see all the possibilities of a new life and the wonders, such a clean slate.
First things first, I’ve always spoken to my child in my native language, Spanish, there’s a reason it’s called mother tongue and I wanted to make sure it was clear what it was. My son’s first word was “HOLA”, which made me so hugely proud, and as the years went by his new words would be a mix of English and Spanish. Then came a long stay in Dominican Republic when he turned three and his Spanish accent became so endearingly Dominican, like his inclination for Juan Luis Guerra’s music and warm swimming water. When he self described himself as “Caribbean”, I knew there was way more world in him than what I thought I was bringing to the table. There’s a child that has such a wider perspective of the world, and my roots, as important as they were and still are, are just a part of a long list of influences and experiences he has, living in such a diverse city as New York and traveling through the world with me.
I do feel particularly envious of my Chilean cousin’s ability to reach out to a large extended family net, and feel very grateful for all the amazing grandparent visits we get, knowing they’re a gift and not a given. I fantasize sometimes with the life we might have if we were back there, how much bigger of a place we can get and how different our lives could be, and then I remember that I’ve been away for so long that home feels more like home here now than when I go back to visit. I love NYC, and take full advantage of it, I have a front row seat to the world’s arts and design, and appreciate how we make community within our own districts, since we’re so closely intertwined with our neighbors – like their music or not-.
The nostalgia comes in waves, and my home collections are my way of dealing with the beauty of what I miss and translating it into the reality of where I live with my son, in our bi-lingual life.
