Haiti

Haiti- the country I love so much. My first year there was the first time I lived on my own, my first teaching job, my first time eating a fresh mango from the tree. On this island I fell in love for the first time. I had my first kiss under the pink flowers of a bougainvillea. I got married there in a tropical paradise with family and friends at my side.

Ysmaille and I just got back from our most recent trip to Haiti. I got teary-eyed as the plane soared over the majestic mountains. When the plane landed I felt like I had come home.

Something changed on my visit here. I realized for the first time that Haiti wasn't my home anymore. I love the memories I made there, and would never change my experiences. What I experienced in Haiti shaped me as a person and have made me who I am today. Despite all that I felt disillusioned. One of the reasons I loved Haiti so much on my previous visits was because I knew my boyfriend, and later my fiance, would be waiting their for me. I knew we would go to all our old spots- Tiger Market for ice cream, Petion-ville for another painting, and the Baptist Mission for a peak at Charlie (the monkey who lives there). Now Ysmaille is my husband and we have started our life over here and it makes me really sad that somehow my love for Haiti has changed, not disappeared, just changed.