I’m pleased to share that my prose has been published in the latest issue of Andorinha Press.
“What Did You Inherit?” is a short piece about saudade—the longing for a home long gone—and the sense of belonging to a place we may never have known firsthand. It explores something many children of immigrants grow up carrying: a longing inherited from those who came before us.
Many congratulations to everyone involved in bringing this issue together, and to all of the wonderful contributors. I’m grateful to have my work included among them.
EXCERPT:
“Why did you leave?”
That’s a question I carry, even though I wasn’t the one who left.
For many descendants of Portuguese immigrants, the homeland isn’t a memory of our own but an inheritance. We grew up inside its shadow. We heard the stories of culture, food and history. We were reminded of the sacrifice, the poverty and the courage it took to build a new life elsewhere.
The leaving was never casual. It was survival. And yet what we inherited wasn’t only the story of departure, but the ache of return.
Saudade wasn’t taught outright; it was absorbed. It lives in the music played, in broken language barriers and the way our parents speak about the village where they were raised. We learn early that there was somewhere else that came before us. Somewhere that still mattered.
For some of our parents, going back was always in the plan. They left with every intention of returning. They built lives abroad while maintaining long-distance devotion to the place they first called home. They kept relationships alive across borders and eventually, some fulfilled the promise and retired there. We watched all of it.
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