There seems to be an unwritten rule these days.  If you leave a place, you’re supposed to hate it. If you criticize a country, you’re expected to reject it entirely.  If you move abroad, people assume you’re running away from something. But life is rarely that simple. I didn’t leave America because I hated it. I left because I loved it. That may sound strange, but it’s the truth.

I grew up believing in America. I believed in the promise. I believed in the dream. I believed that hard work mattered, that opportunity existed, and that tomorrow could be better than today.

• I loved the football games.
• I loved the road trips.
• I loved the diners.
• I loved the music.
• I loved the endless stretches of highway and the feeling that anything was possible if you were willing to work for it.

America wasn’t just a country to me. It was home. That’s why what happened next hurt so much. Over time, I began to feel disconnected from the place I once knew.  The conversations became angrier. The divisions became deeper. The stress became constant. Everything seemed to revolve around conflict, outrage, and fear. It felt as if everyone was searching for an enemy. And somewhere along the way, I stopped recognizing the country that had shaped me.

Maybe America changed. Maybe I changed. Most likely, both are true. What I know is this: The place I loved began to feel like a memory.

I wasn’t looking to leave America. I was looking for peace. And somehow that search led me to Mexico. I didn’t arrive with a grand plan. I certainly didn’t arrive expecting my life to change.

But something happened here. People welcomed me. Not because of my politics. Not because of my nationality. Not because of my social status. They welcomed me because I was another human being. That sounds simple. Yet it changed everything. Mexico didn’t promise me paradise. It didn’t solve all my problems. No country can do that. What it gave me was something much more valuable.

It gave me a chance to breathe.  It gave me a chance to slow down. It gave me a chance to rediscover parts of myself that had been buried beneath years of stress and noise. And perhaps most importantly, it gave me a chance to feel at home again. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving America, far from it. I still miss football season. I still miss autumn rain. I still miss old friends, familiar roads, and memories that can never be replaced.

Some pieces of your first home stay with you forever. But loving where you came from doesn’t mean you have to stay there. And finding a new home doesn’t mean you have to erase the old one. For many expats, immigrants, and travelers, that is one of the hardest truths to explain.

You can love two places at once. You can miss one while living in another. You can carry gratitude and grief in the same heart. That realization eventually inspired a song. It’s called “From Mexico With Love.” The song isn’t a protest. It isn’t an attack. It isn’t a political statement. It’s a love letter. A love letter to Mexico.  A love letter to second chances. A love letter to everyone who has ever crossed a border and discovered that home is not always where you were born.

Sometimes home is where you are welcomed. And that changed everything. Listen to “From Mexico With Love” below.

LYRICS

From Mexico With Love
I sing ojalá

I loved the empire like a schoolboy
Defending every foolish lie
I wore its colors in the summer
I watched its flags against the sky

I memorized the grand promises
The speeches and the sacred myths
But every year the smile grew smaller
And every gift without a kiss

The television called it freedom
My landlord called it something else
And every door I tried to open
Required permission from someone else

I gave my heart away
They sent it back unpaid

From Mexico With Love
From sunlight spilling off the hills
From people who still have the courage
To sit together and stand still

From Mexico With Love
Where nobody asked me what I was
Before they offered me a chair
And made a stranger feel at home

From Mexico With Love
La La La La
I sing ojalá

The land I loved became exhausted
Arguing with itself all day
Everyone searching for an enemy
Nobody looking the other way

They sold anxiety by the truckload
They sold outrage by the pound
And every conversation ended
With somebody shouting somebody down

I kept waiting for tomorrow
The one they promised long ago
Instead I got another invoice
For dreams I could no longer afford

I gave my faith away
They spent it in my name

From Mexico With Love
From music drifting through the dark
From neighbours who still wave hello
As though it isn’t something hard

From Mexico With Love
I found more kindness than I
Was ever told a place like this could hold
From Mexico with love

La La La La
I sing ojalá

Now and then I miss the old days
Football games and autumn rain
The songs the diners the highways
Certain faces still remain

And if I’m honest
That is why it hurt so much
You cannot break a heart
That never loved

From Mexico With Love
To the country that I used to trust
I hope you find what you’ve been looking for
I really do

But I have found a different road
Beneath a brighter gentler sun
A place that never promised paradise
Only a chance to live
And somehow
That was enough

La La La La
From Mexico With Love
La La La La
From Mexico With Love
With love I sing ojalá

The first thing Mexico ever gave me
Wasn’t freedom
It was welcome
And that changed everything

——————————
Written and Performed by Johnny Punish
Produced by Punish Studios

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What place feels like home to you?

I’d love to hear your story in the comments.