It’s a lot to hold inside.

Really enjoyed this piece.

Que buen relato!!! Mientras leia me sentía ahí, que noche linda abrán pasado.
Me encanta como escribís, siempre leo lo que Lau publica en FB de tus escritos, ademas de que los disfruto, aprendo nuevas palabras en inglés

Muy feliz anio para vos, Lau y Layla!

I agree that in many places other than the US there seems to be a more genuine welcome into peoples homes and lives. I’ve only been able to personally feel it in Central America so far, but I’m working on getting to more! It’s different in the US, I think people welcome you into their homes as a new person or visitor because its polite, its the socially acceptable thing to do, receive your guest graciously. But it’s just different in Latin America, they welcome you into their families not because it’s what they’re “suppose” to do but because the truly want you to feel a part of it. I love that feeling and it does remind you of sometimes warm , sometimes trying, memories and events at “home” and in your own life.

So thank you David for the beautiful piece and further inspiration to explore the world. Because at the end of the day we are all just people living our lives!

I’m trying to reply to your reponse to what Tim wrote but for some reason I can’t. Thank you for explaining your process. It made me really think a lot about my process (and if I even have one yet) and how that can affect the shape of a story or what events in your life can become a story. It’s a beautiful piece, David. Really is.

Also, I love Layla’s jacket in that picture!!!

Same. And you lay it out 100% here. Damn that’s good.

reading your lines made me question what it was that may have been different in the ‘process’ of writing this piece and i think this is it: i didn’t ‘hear’ any of the lines before i started writing.

oftentimes a line will occur to me and then i start with that almost as if it was a rhythm–i then let the style of the piece flow from there.

with this piece i really had nothing. just typed line by line what happened. seemed hard.

but damn it sounds pretentious to talk about your own writing.

that’s what he said.

thanks for the emotional response julie. this piece was difficult to write for some reason but i felt like it needed to be written. i’m glad it’s reaching people.

what makes me the most emotional is when i really feel like time is passing.

i think, if anything, that’s what was under this piece–a feeling of moving downstream.

Thank you. This is beautiful.

I’m not entirely sure I can explain why this made me cry, but it did and I’ll try. I don’t want to romanticize anything, but there’s exactly what you said– less fear. More acceptance– of everything, I think. Of welcoming people in. Of loving each other even when it’s hard or when someone’s shortcomings are so painfully obvious. More desire to help each other feel welcome– “Go on in!” I don’t know- I just keep thinking, every time I read something of yours from down there–that we’ve got to keep working to find a way to bring this connection into our own lives, to insist upon it every single day.