Maps of Cuba in the House

or "What it's like to grow up in a Cuban-American home" by Lucy Ruth Darby
That is Lucy's working title for her memoirs.

She insists that growing up in South Orange County with a surfer for a dad and a Cuban mother make her life a little...ummm...different. (and yes, "surfers" are an entire demographic down here.)

Here's where I have to stop and remember that she is also homeschooled and a thinker. She thinks. She observes. She writes.

She observes the passion in her Cuban family. We are passionate about our customs, about our food, about our politics.

She thinks that maybe it is a good thing to be passionate. And she writes down her observations.

She has noted that we all have maps of Cuba in our homes.  She asks if this was always the case. And I realize as I answer that it was not.  Having tokens of Cuba in our homes is a product of being an exile who doesn't want to forget their roots. It is a way of connecting to our heritage. It is for the same reason that we read books by Cuban authors.  The reason we savor our Cuban food. She tries to understand and so she writes.

It amazes me that she writes with so much feeling and depth.

  Hmm....I wonder where she gets this?  Oh wait....