For Elizabeth Cuevas, Minister for Community Life at Christ Church Cathedral, home is found in the lessons, memories, and love passed down by her parents.
Her parents, Juan and Alba Cuevas, were born in Veracruz, Mexico, and their example continues to shape the way Elizabeth moves through the world. From the importance of kindness and helping others to the simple act of sharing food around a table, what they taught her remains present in her everyday life.
For Elizabeth, remembering them is one of the things that always takes her home.
Carrying Their Lessons Forward
Growing up, Elizabeth often served as a bridge between her parents and the English-speaking world, translating for them and helping them navigate situations in a new country.
That experience stayed with her.
Today, whenever she encounters families who need help communicating or translating between English and Spanish, she thinks of her own parents and the experiences they shared.
Helping someone feel understood becomes a way of honoring what her parents taught her: to be kind, to help others, and to be present when someone needs support.
Those values have become part of how Elizabeth builds relationships and serves her community.
Memories That Return With the Rain
Elizabeth spent the first five years of her childhood in Mexico, and although much of her life has been lived in the United States, memories of those early years remain vivid.
Sometimes, it takes something as simple as rain to bring them back.
The smell of wet earth reminds her of childhood, of the places she knew, and of the life her family had before coming to the United States.
These sensory memories—the rain, the land, the places she once knew—create an unexpected connection between where she is now and where her story began.
Love Around the Table
Food is another powerful connection to home.
Elizabeth remembers her mother as someone who was always cooking and always had something on the table. What mattered was not whether the meal was elaborate. Even something as simple as eggs could carry enormous meaning.
For Elizabeth, the food her mother prepared was another way of saying, “I love you.”
It is a tradition she now carries into her own family. Through cooking and sharing meals, Elizabeth continues the same expression of care she experienced growing up.
Home, then, is not simply one place.
It is found in the kindness her parents modeled, the memories of childhood, the smell of rain on the earth, the food shared around a table, and the traditions she now passes on to her own family.
As Elizabeth reflects, remembering her parents and continuing what they instilled in her is what brings her home.
What takes you home?
