Since I married a Cuban-American and we had three children together, my life story became somewhat Cuban. I married into an existing story, and then my three children carried that story into my future. So Cuba is forever a part of my identity. I don't speak the language, but it is the background noise of the last 33 years of my life. The food, the culture, the music, the people, they all infiltrated who I am slowly over time and changed me.

So when I listened to the podcast Scattered, it was like hearing a part of our family story unknown until now. Chris Garcia is an American-born child of Cuban refugee parents. Theirs is a story of;

-- the blending of two nations,
-- a proud, heartbreaking patriotism,
-- the letting go of the past in favor of the promise of a future,
-- American prosperity in the face of unseen and unheard from family languishing in the homeland.

It's all so familiar to me because it's part of my own life story by marriage and by birth (of my children).

It's a refugee story.

It's a love story.

It's a beauty from ashes story.

It's complicated.

It's a story of family, survival, and devotion.

You don't need to have a personal connection to Cuba or the plight of Cuban refugees to be moved by this compelling story of Chris Garcia's learning about his late father's past.

His story will break your heart but cause your spirit to rise up. It will make you proud and grateful to be an American. It will make you desperately want to not squander your opportunity and freedom and affluence. This story will make you a more compassionate human being. It will remind you that there are people you come into contact with every day who have suffered unspeakable atrocity, tragedy, and sorrow. This story will encourage you to be kinder, gentler, and more patient. 

Listen to Scattered: One dead dad, a box of ashes, and a mysterious past, and be a better human for having invested three hours in this particular someone else's story. Then remember, everyone has a story.

Find out more here.

Scattered's Instagram.