The Life I’m Building Between Two Homes

July Letters-07

31st July, 2026.

(P.S: This letter was written in July 2026 by a participant in our pen-pal project, addressed to their pen pal. We’re sharing it here with permission. July’s theme was A letter from my corner of the world..)

Dear Stranger,

I was born in Mexico but live in Georgia (the state, not the country). So while many of my friends growing up had sweet tea, fried pickles, and burger cookouts, I had jícama with lime juice and Tajín, aguas frescas, and tacos de asada. It’s always fascinated me how people seem to find each other to build community.

We didn’t have any family here at first, but my parents built one for themselves. Friends of friends from Mexico moved here and were adopted into our makeshift family. Some friendships began in grocery store lines while overhearing Spanish and sparking a conversation, or when they kept running into the same familiar faces at church, which turned into lunches, coffees, birthdays, and holiday invitations.

Every summer, we’d spend our days poolside, sharing sandwiches, Lay’s chips, and popsicles. Every Fourth of July, we’d go to the same park to watch the fireworks and lay out our plaid blankets. Every Thanksgiving, we’d skip the turkey for tacos or pozole. The kids would play our annual game of Capture the Flag, which always ended in cheating accusations and a tie-breaking race down the street. Every Christmas, we played a game called Cinco in lieu of White Elephant with our chosen family and exchanged recipes spanning every country from Cuba down to Chile. Then we’d send the year off with a party where our parents danced through the night, where we entertained ourselves with Just Dance tournaments, where my parents coaxed me into singing (secretly one of my favorite parts, especially when my sisters would be my backup dancers), and where we rang in the New Year with a marshmallow fight—a tradition that originated on the first New Year’s Eve my parents spent together in 1991. Through the last eighteen years we’ve lived here, we’ve made it work!

Today, I’m the first to move out of my parents’ home, like so many other firsts an eldest daughter becomes the guinea pig for. I live in the same city where I went to college, an hour south of them, with my now-fiancé, so we are still quite close, both in distance and in relationship.

During the week, I take a walk in the mornings before work as often as I can because sunlight is medicinal, and truthfully, the days I do feel more productive. I empty the dishwasher because I hate dirty dishes in the sink. I fill my emotional support water bottle with my favorite fridge water in the world (it’s not weird if you’ve experienced your own version of this!), and then I’m off to the races—which is just another way of saying I have to suffer through Atlanta’s traffic. I swear the city planners were drunk when they laid out this city! I listen to Tame Impala, Chris Lake, Midnight Generation, and Channel Tres on the way to work while I sip my black coffee and chocolate protein shake. It seems mundane, but I’m happy knowing I’ve built this all for myself, architecting my own life one detailed piece at a time.

The best parts of my day include planning my big, fat Mexican wedding, reading a book, and taking burlesque classes. There’s always a lot to do around here! I’m really excited for our wedding and to be able to share my Mexican culture with our friends after seven crazy years of growing up together. From the mariachi at cocktail hour to the tequila tour we’re planning, I want to celebrate this time with them so we never forget being young and celebrating love (especially the late-night chilaquiles I’ve been wanting to steal for my own party ever since my cousin’s wedding in 2014!).

Our non-negotiables include a disco ball, a DJ, and walking into the party to “Lifetime” by SG Lewis. My fiancé has tried to warn me not to get ahead of myself, but I like reminding him that this is the most exciting party of your life! You only get to do it once (hopefully), and it’s one of only two times all the people you love are in one place. You don’t even get to enjoy the second time because it’s your funeral! Plus, I want our future babies to be able to watch our wedding video the way I watched my parents’ and be amazed that we were people with lives before they ever existed, just like I was when my own wedding felt like such a distant, romanticized dream.

I’ve been trying to read more classics, but my library doesn’t have the ones I want, or I admittedly end up getting bored with the ones I do check out. Sue me! Instead, I’ve been immersing myself in historical fiction and deeply enjoying it, with my current recommendation being The Nightingale. I end up reading a lot of World War II books, both fiction and nonfiction. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s a fascination with the domino effect that catapulted those events into action. Or maybe it’s the magnitude of how World War II changed the world forever. It serves as a grim reminder of how dark humanity can be, but also of the light you can bring to the world by being a good person, a good neighbor, and a trusted friend to those who need it most.

Every week, I take either a burlesque class or a shuffle dance class. I think novelty keeps your life interesting and gives you something to look forward to. Plus, I love being able to bust a little move at a music festival or perform for others. I just finished taking Salsalesque and a stripper heels class! It’s made me feel sexy in my own skin and given me the courage to reclaim my energy in ways I didn’t know I was missing. It’s especially freeing to be in an environment where people from all walks of life, can come together and relate to one another through dance. It’s through these experiences that I’ve started to realize that it’s all the politicians’ fault—not the people. People are more alike in so many ways than we think. It’s the politics and the divisive nature they cultivate that keep us at each other’s throats.

On the weekends, my favorite coffee shop serves a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit and a horchata iced latte that I love to drink year-round. Or maybe I’ll go dancing at my favorite club or drink sugar-free vodka Red Bulls with my girlfriends at the only bar that plays music that makes you feel like you’re in a movie montage. Sometimes I stay home to tend to my garden, paint in my own rejected-Picasso manner, and sneak a joint (I love a citrusy strain). I always feel like a hippie woman when I get to do all three in one weekend, like I’m practicing for my future as a whimsical grandmother or neighbor in flowing skirts and braided waves of hair.

I love to run around a park with a one-mile track and watch the people walking as I pass them. I listen to techno when I run, and my favorite artist is Brutalismus 3000. Sometimes the nursing home residents are there, or a summer club for kids. But mostly it’s young couples and families letting their kiddos run around. I like to imagine what their lives are like, what jobs they have, and what their favorite colors might be. There’s also a skatepark there where I wonder how cool I’d be if I learned to master the bowl or ride a rail. But I also love going to the gym. I’ve just been slacking recently because I caught pneumonia with the force of a Victorian child, so I’m still recovering! That’s just life.

I’m a firm believer in the phrase work hard, play hard. And I’d venture to say I like to party harder! I think the world needs more disco, after-parties, and conversation pits. There’s something beautiful about knowing your youth is fleeting and choosing to enjoy every moment of it. That you’re doing what you can to make new connections, grow into a new version of yourself, and yet not take yourself too seriously. The world is wide and waiting for you to explore it.

My world grows with every new restaurant I try, every cup of coffee, every book, every song recommendation, and I love to think about this web of coincidences that has built my life as I know it. Like a giant quilt that holds every version of myself, or a mosaic made of everyone I’ve loved and everyone who has loved me.

I wonder what goes on in your world. What music do you listen to? Is there a restaurant you couldn’t live without? Is your bedroom cozy? Are you in love? What would you change about your life? What are you actively working on?

With Love,
Anonymous

This letter was written as part of our global pen-pal exchange —“With Love, Anonymous.”

Each month, hundreds of readers around the world write and receive letters on life, love, and becoming.

✉️ Want to write one too? Join the next round through our Linktree below:

Join Us