My father, Octavio Lima, was born on January 11, 1948, in Rodas, Cuba. His childhood changed forever when Fidel Castro and his government came to power. His family had worked hard for everything they owned, including a beautiful beach house, but under the new communist government, their property was taken and became government property. Overnight, the life his family had built was no longer theirs.

For my father, there was another fear. As young boys reached their teenage years, families worried that the government could take them for labor, military service, or other responsibilities. My grandparents wanted to protect their son, so they made the difficult decision to send him to the United States.

My father came to Miami through the Peter Pan flights, a program that brought thousands of Cuban children to the United States. At first, he lived with an uncle in Miami. However, his uncle was unable to continue caring for him because of his involvement in activities related to the CIA and Cuba. My father was eventually sent to a camp for Cuban children in the Everglades through the Archdiocese of Miami.

Soon afterward, he was placed with a foster family in Des Moines, Iowa. The family had expected to welcome a young boy, but instead, they received a high-school-aged teenager who had been separated from his parents and everything he knew. Despite the unexpected circumstances, they welcomed him into their home. He remained with the family throughout high school, and they became much more than a foster family. They became his family. To this day, my father still considers the family in Iowa, including the parents and siblings, part of his family. They feel the same way about him.

Eventually, my grandparents and my aunt were able to come to the United States and reunite with my father. After years of being separated, my father was finally able to be together with his parents and sister again. They first moved to Michigan, but the cold weather was not for them. They soon moved to Miami, where my father met my mother. They eventually married and began building their life together.

With assistance available to Cuban immigrants seeking higher education, my father attended the University of Florida, where he studied architecture. He went on to become an architect and eventually returned to South Florida, where he started his own architecture firm and began raising a family.

Today, my father and mother are still married, and their four children are all adults with families and lives of their own. My sister lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two sons and works as an industrial psychologist. My brother lives in Orlando with his wife and young son and works in HVAC. I live in South Florida, close to my parents, with my husband, my son, and my stepdaughter. One of my brothers has severe autism and epilepsy and continues to be cared for at home by my parents. Despite the challenges our family has faced, my parents have remained devoted to their children and grandchildren.