From New England to the Caribbean
My Story
My life was mapped out for me as early as the fifth grade. Maybe you can relate. Bookworm, dreamer, fashion challenged, shy. I was the iconic school-yard victim and future writer.
My 5th-grade Self
I invite you to travel back with me to Wethersfield, Connecticut in the early 1960s. Wethersfield is a quiet, peaceful little town in picturesque New England. Life was predictable in Wethersfield. I went to school with my four brothers and sisters, was laughed at, picked on, bullied—all the usual things that happen to kids who don’t fit in. And then I went home and found solace in the pages of a book.
When I tired of reading, I grabbed my bike and took off for the village cemetery (I always was a little weird). But beside my attraction to the Gothic side of life, I was at peace among the tombstones. No one bothered me there. No one laughed at me. Away from the bullies, I read, wrote stories, and dreamed about far-away lands.
The Old Village Cemetery, Wethersfield, Connecticut
But dreams were only that—fantasies of a life that was not yet mine. With five children, my family rarely traveled outside of New England. But we did celebrate the holidays. I especially loved Halloween. I loved the costumes. The creativity. It was spooky and fun. But as much as I loved all that, something was luring me away from the colorful autumns of New England.
Halloween in New England!
After graduating from Wethersfield High School, I went to Gettysburg College to study American history and literature. It was, at least for me, a logical next step. Get away from the town bullies and study what I loved. But as a good liberal arts school will do, my mind expanded and my interests shifted. I learned to appreciate all things Spanish, from the language, to the literature, to the culture. I also discovered Federico Garcia Lorca, Poet of the Gypsies. That’s when life started getting really interesting.
Wander lust kicked in and I couldn’t wait to graduate, because after graduation, I was going to Spain.
My path led to Seville, where orange blossoms perfumed the air and incense drifted through cobblestone alleys. It was in Seville that I fell in love. Not with a Spaniard–that would be predictable–but with a philosophical scientist from India. As my pastor said when he married Govind and I at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wethersfield, “Our God is a God of surprises. Marvelously unpredictable.”
Our Wedding Day
Some years have passed since I was a bride. I completed a graduate degree in Spanish literature, developed a business teaching Spanish to childbirth professionals, wrote a few books, and raised a family. I’ve lived among the Gypsies in Spain and became part of a Hindu family. My life has not been dull, that’s for sure. But it hasn’t been easy either. Each new experience brought with it trials, tears, challenges, and joys. I guess that’s why I’m a writer. My journals are full of the stories that have shaped my life.
Now, despite the hurricanes and earthquakes, I live in Puerto Rico. On the island, I mentor the same type of young people I once was—a social misfit who made it through school by escaping into the fantastic world of books. I don’t quite fit into the culture of Puerto Rico, but in not fitting in, I belong. The legacy of Wethersfield lives in me. I remain a misfit in the colorful, chaotic world that has become my home.
Poets and Writers Who Inspire Me
Mark Twain
How can I not be inspired by the iconic literary figure who wrote his most famous books in Hartford, Connecticut, ten minutes from my childhood home.
Federico Garcia Lorca
This “Poet of the Gypsies” was my first introduction to the lyrical voice of Spanish Literature. Through his plays and poems, I fell in love with Spain.
William Shakespeare
“The Bard,” England’s national poet and one of the greatest writers in the English language, has been my inspiration for as long as I’ve been reading and writing.
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote, To travel is to live.”
– Hans Christian Andersen
Inspirational Itineraries
Mark Twain’s Mansion
Hartford, Connecticut
A century after Samuel Clemens’s death, Mark Twain is still alive today through his literature. One way to celebrate this iconic American writer is by visiting Hartford, Connecticut, where this legendary author produced some of his best work.
Poet of the gypsies
Federico Garcia Lorca's Spain
García Lorca drew deeply on the landscapes of his native Andalusia and found inspiration in its history, colors, and rural simplicity. Cobblestone alleys, splashing fountains, and orange blossoms inspired his poetry and his plays.
My Books
City of Sorrows Book Location: Seville, Spain
On a dark road outside the city of Seville, the lives of three men crash together in ways they never would have thought possible. A devastating loss. A dangerous obsession. City of Sorrows is a novel about what controls us, and the choices we must make to be free.
Dante's Kiss Book Location: Puerto Rico
It’s hard to be a sixteen-year-old-three-quarter angel when the one quarter human side kicks in. What Kiriela does not understand when she falls for a human boy named Dante is that when the supernatural collides with the natural world, something as simple as a kiss is more dangerous than it seems.
Mind Binder Book Location: Puerto Rico
High school in Hell is not where Jadiel planned to spend his final year as a warden of the state. He was supposed to graduate from Maion, God’s ultra-strict correctional center for spiritually delinquent angels. But when he rebels against the severe rules and conservative attitudes of his guardians, Jadiel is exiled to Abaddon—the notorious school for the fallen under the city of San Juan.
