By: Emily Gomez-Martin
Your dad comes home from his visit to his home land,
Guatemala.
You have never been to Guatemala so it feels like this unknown foreign place that your dad goes every year
You have an idea that you are Guatemalan but it doesn't really connect in your brain.
At this time you are just a kid,
A kid who is Guatemalan but has never seen those ancient mayan temples that stand on the land of your people, but land that is not yours.
You turn 5 years old, just learning how to read and write.
You are given a postcard with a picture of tall, steep, eroding temples with a bright blue sky in the back.
On the back your dad has written “Un día mi pequeña verá estos templos conmigo y estará en casa. -From your dad”
You weren't taught Spanish but you can read “-From your dad” and that is all that matters to you.
Those three words have your heart.
You are close with your dads side of the family so you see them a lot.
You and your sister are the only cousins who weren't taught both English and Spanish.
You feel like an outsider and can't fully relate to them
So you start taking spanish class in school, or as your cousins and dad would say “tomando clases de español en la escuela”
You thought taking this class would help you fit in.
News flash, it didn't
You just want to connect with your roots because that is where your family says “Yeah that's your home”
It doesn't feel like your home
In English class, we are asked what home is to us.
What is home to you?
Some people say,
“Manahatta is the word our ancestors used to describe their home”.
The Spanish language and the tall, ancient, eroding, mayan temples is what your dad would use to describe his home
And you think you would say that too but, it isn't your home.
It is someone else's home that you can not claim.
It isn't the language or the place that your dad grew up with.
So how would you describe home?
For you, home isn't just the four walls that you live in between,
Home is playing checkers against your grandmother and not winning because she let you,
Home is your father coming home from his home, Guatemala.
Home are the words “-From your dad” on the back of a postcard that you got when you were just 5 years old.
Home is truly where your heart is.
And your heart is here.
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