I have lived on the mainland United States since I was two years old. I could have easily forgotten my roots.
But I didn’t.
Because Puerto Rico has never been a place I left behind, it is a place that lives within me.
It meets me in the quiet moments of the morning, in the rhythm of my steps as I walk, in the way I laugh without holding back.
My laughter carries the sound of the ocean, the same ocean that embraces the island where my story began.
Puerto Rico lives in me through my food, through my music, through the richness of a culture that shaped who I am long before I understood it.
It is present in my language, in my spirit, in my way of seeing the world.
No matter how far I am, I have never been separated from her.
Because Puerto Rico is not just where I was born, she is who I am.
She is etched into my identity. She is woven into my being.
She is tattooed in my blood.
Carried through generations, through my maternal line, through the strength and legacy of my Taíno ancestry.
And I will carry her with me, in every space I enter, in every voice I lift, in every story I tell,
until my very last breath.
Rooted in Story. Rising with Purpose. Siempre Creciendo
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