Chantal Aurora

“I was a collection of hyphens and bilingual words. Always caught in between. Two schools, two languages, two countries. Never quite right or enough for either. My dreams were funded by a loan made long before me, and I paid it back with in guilt and success. I paid it back by tending a garden whose roots I could not reach”
― Nina Moreno, Don't Date Rosa Santos

“I look at Connor, and a wave of sadness washes over me. I miss him, even though he’s sitting right in front of me. It’s hard to explain, but it reminds me of a haiku I once read: 'Even in Kyoto—/ hearing the cuckoo’s cry—/ I long for Kyoto.' I feel like that a lot. I get nostalgic before I have to.”
― Erika L. Sánchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

“I’m afraid to tell him exactly how I feel - how one second I’m okay and the next I’m sad for no good reason. I don’t want to scare him away.”
― Erika L. Sánchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

“You know, I just... I just feel like it's unfair, that my whole life is unfair, like I was born into the wrong place and family. I never belong anywhere. My parents don't understand anything about me. And my sister is gone. Sometimes I watch those stupid TV shows, you know? The ones where mothers and daughters talk about feelings and fathers take their kids to play baseball or get ice cream or some shit like that, and I wish it were me. It's so stupid, I know, to want your life to be a sitcom.”
― Erika L. Sánchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter