Let's talk about love: loving away from home

She fell in love far from home, away from the familiar streets of Chile and into the embrace of a life built on shared dreams and cultural blending. A woman who once thought of love as fleeting, who had little patience for long-term commitments, found herself married with a newborn child, living in Memphis, Tennessee, after a journey that began with studies abroad and ended with a deep-rooted connection across borders. Her story begins in her early twenties, during her time as a student in Chile. She was not one for enduring relationships, nor did she celebrate anniversaries or fill drawers with letters of affection. While many of her friends were engaged in long-term partnerships, she had only a few brief attempts at romance before moving on. Her first boyfriend lasted a month, another relationship stretched for five months, and then, nothing. She simply wasn’t someone who dated regularly. Yet, her true passion lay elsewhere. She loved studying, traveling, discovering new cultures. She explored Chile, ventured beyond its borders, and eventually made her way to Spain for further education. Later, she moved to the United States to continue her academic pursuits. She never returned to Chile again, not because of work or study, but because she fell in love. It was in the university, among classmates, that she met José, a man from Mexico. Their initial bond was one of friendship, sharing classes, conversations, and aspirations. Over time, their connection deepened, evolving from companionship into something more profound. There was no need for lists of pros and cons, no hesitation in taking the next step. With him, everything felt simple, natural, and effortless. Within a year, they were married, and soon after, she became a mother. At thirty years old, she was a wife, a mother, and an immigrant, living in a house in the U.S., raising a baby, and building a new life. The identity she once defined by her ambitions, to travel, study, and return home, had changed entirely. Her past self seemed distant, suspended in time while she learned how to care for a newborn in a country still unfamiliar to her. Many had doubted their union. He was Mexican, she was Chilean. Cultural differences, limited time together, and statistical odds all seemed to work against them. Yet, eleven years later, they remained together, defying expectations. They didn’t have a perfect marriage, but they had two children and a growing family. They lived in Memphis, where their lives blended Spanish and English, where traditions from both countries coexisted, and where each day brought new challenges and rewards. Their home was a place of dual identities, a space where Chilean and Mexican words mingled, where the past and present intertwined, and where raising bilingual, bicultural children in a predominantly monolingual society required both strength and resilience. It was also a place marked by quiet sorrow, the ache of missing birthdays, funerals, and family gatherings, the loneliness of being far from roots, and the struggle of finding support in a foreign land. For years, she struggled with this emotional distance, a grief that few acknowledged: the migrant’s longing. She grappled with loving two places at once, feeling at home yet always foreign, grateful yet deeply missed. It was in this emotional landscape that writing emerged, not as a hobby, but as a means of healing. Through words, she began to process her experiences, her family's journey, and the complexities of being both mother and immigrant. She started writing about migration, identity, belonging, and motherhood. Soon, she would publish her first novel, a narrative rooted in her experience of life in the U.S. She is also working on a new book focused on the unique challenges of immigrant motherhood. What began as a personal journey has become a literary endeavor, transforming her story of love, loss, and reinvention into something larger than herself. In the end, her writing was not born solely from a love of literature. It was born from love itself, from the love of José, from the love of her children, and from the love of a life shaped by distance and discovery.