Defining Moments: A Cuban Exile's Story about Discovery and the Search for a Better Future

Leaving his parents in Cuba at the age of 15 and a half the author lived in transition houses, a refugee camp, several foster homes and alone until he reunited with members of his family four years later. A member of the Pedro Pan Program he was able to secure the basic necessities of life for most of that time and able to graduate from high school always pursuing the goal to secure a higher level of education. Letters from family in Cuba provided encouragement and emotional support but ultimately he learned to rely on his own sense of what was the right thing to do as he was confronted with those defining moments where decisions needed to be made. The author has taken a hard and sometimes painful look at his past to retrieve those memories as he prepared to deal with the challenges he faced while seeking an uncertain and undefined future. Reflecting on the experiences of the author's trips back to Cuba starting after a 33 year absence he has come to certain conclusions on topics and themes reflecting on that which has remained the same and that which has changed, always with the hope that a better future may be in the horizon.