These are my very young parents. They would have been in their 30’s in this picture.
It is my father’s birthday. He would have been 97 today. (He passed away in 1999.)
But something else happened on his birthday back in 1961 on this day that we would commemorate long after he passed away. Our family arrived in Miami on February 13th, 1961. My father’s 50th birthday.
We celebrate it still. In fact I wrote a post about it last year.
My mom: "Sabes que dia es?" ("Do you know what day it is?")
Me: "El cumpleanos de Papi." ("Papi’s birthday.")
My mom: "Y 47 anos que estamos en el exilio." ("And forty-seven years in exile.")
My dad’s birthday and the day of our exile. They will remain forever married on the time/space continuum that measures my big, fat Cuban family.
Because that event, that simple crossing the 90 miles of Florida Straights, has been a life-defining event.
And we’ll NEVER get over it.
And we’ll NEVER forget where we came from.
And it will FOREVER define us.
Not just as Cuban refugees, but as Cuban Americans.
Happy Birthday, Papi. 47 years. It doesn’t seem possible.
If he were here today, I like to think that my dad would be one of my faithful blog readers.
And he’d agree with me that Forty-seven years is way too long to wait for change in Cuba.
But, Papi, I’m getting impatient. . .
I want change TODAY.
"CAMBIO."
And he would smile in agreement. 😉
Marti,we arrived Nov. 13, 1961. My parents have both passed now and it saddens me that they are not going to be around to see cambio. I have my return flight voucher (Pan-Am) Miami-La Habana framed and on a wall in my office. You see, my parents thought we would be back in 6 months, so they bought round-trip tickets. It’s hard to forget what our parents went through for us. God bless.
Beautiful entry, Marta. Today, I shall join you in celebrating your dad and all our parents who made sacrifices for us and in praying for cambio.
You should not be asked to forget the day your family’s life changed forever. I’ve heard so many people say that exiles need to get over it. I ask then how long it would take them to get over giving up life as they know it here. My guess is infinity.besos
And the toast tonight (NYE) will be the same as it’s been for the last 60 years in our family – el año que viene… en Cuba!! Sad because our parents have both passed and we realize “we can never go back.” Grateful and proud to call ourselves CubanAmericans. As you said, we will never forget and it will forever define us. Thank you for helping to jar the cobwebs of deeply rooted memories…