17/10/2026
Today is my birthday, and this photograph takes me back to the beginning of everything.
I was three years old. I had no idea how far life would take me, how many times I would have to start over, pack a suitcase, leave places and people behind in search of something I couldn’t yet name.
As I grew older, I began to understand that one of the greatest gifts a mother and a family can give is the courage to let go.
To loosen their hold on the desire to keep us close, to protect us, to know where we are. To accept that our place in the world might be somewhere far away, somewhere different from what they had imagined for us.
It takes an immense kind of strength, especially for a mother. Because loving someone also means learning not to hold them back.
I left with a suitcase, far away from everything I knew. I crossed borders, languages, fears and new possibilities. And little by little, I discovered who I was. Or perhaps I simply learned to listen to the part of me that had been waiting for the space to emerge.
Today, looking at this little girl beside her mother, I think of how much of who I am was shaped by that freedom.
By everything I have built, the person I have become, the worlds I have imagined, and all the ones I have yet to discover.
And I feel deeply grateful to those who gave me roots without expecting them to become chains.
Perhaps growing up means carrying the love we come from, even when we choose to travel far beyond it.
Today, I celebrate another year of life. And if I could make a wish for that little girl, I would tell her to keep leaving, keep searching, keep looking at the world with wonder.
Because sometimes, to find a place to call home, we first need the courage to leave it. 🤍
