Why we're going

We're going on an adventure, ya'll. We'll be back.

We'll all be in Puerto Rico working remote through December 15th, or until the wheels fall off. The kids will be enrolled in school here, fully immersed in an all Spanish life. And we'll spend our free time being intentional as we show them their island home and their family here. 

Over the last couple years Yanira and I have been talking seriously about our deep concerns that the kids aren't speaking Spanish. If something didn't change, it's not going to happen. 

Raising kids that speak their parent's native language is a massive challenge. And the results of the parents we know who have made the biggest effort has been spotty, at best.  Yanira is totally onboard with the plan, but I've been the one really pushing for it. I can't express the deep regret I would feel as their father if my children reach 18 without the ability to speak Spanish. It is their birth right.

I also felt sad about the idea my kids wouldn't have any kind of childhood connection to their joyful Puerto Rican culture. Without a change, they aren't on track to ever feel that deep joy Yanira and her mother have woven into their lives as hispanic people. 

We've sent the kids to Spanish schools, our Nanny has spoken Spanish to them all their lives, I've read to them in Spanish, Abuela lives in the house... But the kids have never been in a situation where they were personally motivated to speak the words from their own mouths.  And speaking the words IS speaking Spanish.

Research has shown us that this is the right age to begin immersion. By age 10, the kids in Puerto Rico are still young enough that they are not confident English speakers. So our kids will have to learn if they want to connect. And our kids are old enough now that they can start to retain the skills.

We aren't expecting a miracle. They won't return to Texas fully fluent. Neither will I (Sloan). We'll have A LOT of work ahead to keep it up when we return home. And we know this isn't going to be our last time here. 

As for the culture, there is simply no substitute for being here. To feel the beat as the music fills the town square. To crouch below the flowering trees as you walk along the sidewalk. To crave the foods of your people, prepared with ingredients that grew from the land where the recipes were first developed.

To swim confidently in the ocean of your ancestors and find your footing in the water over time as you begin to seek out bigger waves and deeper waters. To be here long enough you can fall asleep to the chirps of the coqui frogs and sleep through the morning crows of the roosters. 

And of course, to know your family as people and not just pictures in a frame. 

So we're going.

There are so many things that could go wrong. It's all very expensive, so our money might run out. A hurricane could wipe out the internet and we'd have to go home to keep our jobs. Maybe the kids will have a breakdown as they deal with the immersion process. Maybe Papa will get hospitalized for Dengue fever. 

We'll figure it out. Or we won't. But we're going.