This woman and her son left everything behind after a family tragedy that broke her heart

Between challenges and discoveries, Maria found a new life and a true home. Meet your exciting journey of overcoming.

Living what he describes as a “fairy tale” with her husband and son in Chicago, Maria Robertson-Justinian felt that her future was set.

But everything changed in 2018, when her husband Alex died unexpectedly.

“It was a total shock,” Maria tells CNN Travel, explaining how the tragedy completely altered the course of her life and led her to leave the US with her son.

“I didn’t see it as a viable option to stay there,” he adds.

Painful loss

Four years after Alex’s death, Maria moved to Spain with her 14-year-old son Lucas.

Three years ago they have been happy in the city of Valencia, where the mother of Mary was born.

“Valencia helped us to heal,” says Maria.

Maria, who was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in Canada, had spent a lot of time in the Spanish city. He even moved soon when he was in his early twenties, but had not thought to change himself permanently.

However, it has always considered the city as its “second home”.

“Wherever I lived, he always carried valence with me,” adds Maria.

In 1998, Maria moved from Canada to the US and went to study for the University of Princeton, where she met Alex.

The couple, who married in 2001, was later living for Washington and had their son, Lucas, before moving to Chicago where each of them continued their career.

“Life in Chicago was everything,” says Maria, explaining that her careers were thriving and all signs seemed to point to her to stay there forever.

“It goes walking and things are like, ‘Oh, I love my life. We are living such a beautiful life,'” he says.

“And then it’s like a bomb exploded … and we stopped there.”

Remembering this “horrible” period, Maria compares him to a tsunami.

“It’s so calm and pleasant,” he says. “Water is backward. And suddenly this wave drops us. And we think, ‘What do we do now?'”

In the weeks that followed the death of Alex, the community of Evanston, Illinois, where they lived, came together around Maria and Lucas.

“My son’s school parents created as a food distribution chain,” he recalls. “They fed me and my son for three months.”

“They came and left all meals on my porch with letters, flowers and tickets. It was an amazing community.”

Maria admits that she was extremely sad to leave her friends behind, as well as her job as a teacher, but she felt that “she was trying to move on with this life that she was no longer going to have.”

“It was as if everything sucks me,” he says. “Alex was everywhere.”

New beginning

Although initially Maria had planned to wait until her son ended secondary education, he says that it was Lucas who suggested that they moved to Spain during a visit to the country in 2021.

As soon as they returned to the United States, Mary put the idea in march.

“I sold my house,” he says. “I sold my furniture, said goodbye and started the process of change and emigration to Spain.”

However, things were not exactly simple after that.

“It was by no means a linear process,” he says about the change. “There were obstacles … I thought, ‘keep your eyes on the prize.'”

She says she feels that “there is a lot of romanticization” about the change to the country, and that “everything is Soalheiro in Spain”, but the reality is that “not easy”.

The business of the first house that tried to buy in Valencia fell apart and failed to get a golden visa, a program that ends later this year and allows citizens of non -community countries to live and work in Spain for three years.

Fortunately, Maria had begun the process of request for Spanish citizenship while still living in Chicago.

“It was a nightmare,” he says, adding that he was very grateful to be fluent in Spanish during the process and believes he would have had difficulty if it were not for the case. His citizenship was obtained in the same year.

When she and Lucas finally arrived Valencia to start her new life, Maria felt very relieved.

“It was like getting to the promised land …” he says. “It was an amazing feeling. I felt like a marathon ended.”

In the last three years, Maria and Lucas have surrendered to life in the Spanish city and she explains that being in a different environment has done wonders for both.

“I feel like I’m a calmer person,” says Maria, adding that “she has done a lot of work and therapy” in recent years.

“When Alex died, he was training to make Ironman (a long -distance race) … I was out of me. I was just trying not to focus on what happened.”

She believes that the fact that she was “from the epicenter of the tragedy” allowed her to “load the pause button”.

“I think that was the biggest change,” he thinks. “Not always on alert, which is normal if there is a lion chasing us.”

“It’s not sustainable. However, it happens when we go through a traumatic event.”

Healing trip

Although both she and her son miss the US friends, Maria says they are much happier in Valencia.

“He hugged his life here and I think it helps a lot,” he explains. “It would be difficult if I made the decision and he didn’t want to come. That would be very difficult.”

Maria believes that Lucas is safer in Spain than he would be living in the US.

“I don’t worry about his going to school, which is an important fact in school -age children,” he explains.

“People are not armed (here). And that was a great incentive.”

Maria stresses that she is perfectly aware that bad things can happen anywhere, remembering that her home in Valencia was robbed after they became changed.

However, he explains that he “felt the presence of weapons” when they were in the US and never felt comfortable with it.

“Here, I can run at ten at night in summer without feeling it’s too late to leave,” he says.

Although he considers that valence is accessible “for American standards,” Maria points out that it is “unfair to compare prices when earning an American salary.”

Maria notes some significant changes in the city, especially in recent years, noting that houses’ prices have doubled and that many things have become more expensive.

“People work hard and young people often have to live with their parents because they don’t have the money to leave home,” says Maria, stressing that the price increase means that the city is not so accessible to local inhabitants.

“People are experiencing difficulties,” he says. “Especially with regard to housing.”

Major changes

Maria also states that there has been a “large flow of people coming to valence”, saying that she rarely heard American accents on the streets while visiting the city for 20 years.

“There were probably American tourists,” he says. “But now it’s amazing. I have known so many American expats. There is a huge community. And a specialty coffee can be bought.”

Although he expects to continue in Valencia with Lucas, who goes to an American school, and his Labrador Peanut, in the immediate future, Maria says that after Alex’s loss, he learned “never to make plans.”

“I imagine my life here,” he adds.

And while occasionally becoming nostalgic when thinking about the life he left behind, Maria says she is still in contact with her friends in Chicago and has “a long list of people” who asks him to visit her.

“I think that when we change our environment and we are receiving things, we can see them with other eyes and a different perspective,” he adds.

“Just being with my family and having this support here was incredibly repairing. And I met so many people that they wouldn’t have been presented to me on the place where I was living.”

Despite living in the United States and Canada for more than two decades, Maria says she always felt a little displaced and “did not identify” with anywhere.

“It is difficult when we live our lives in different places,” he adds, admitting that he feels more linked to valence than anywhere else.

Two years ago, Maria and a friend created a welfare retreat company, by the Sea Retreats, which offers retreats in Valencia and Sagunto.

“I started to look at mental health and well-being,” he says. “And I have a lot of friends who are in the area of ​​well-being. I wanted to create something that would help people.”

Maria is also creating a relocation company, Valencia Vibes Relocation, with a team of other people.

“We intend to make the process of change, and all that it implies, simple and easy for those who seek to move here to valence,” he says, adding that “he would have worshiped someone had done it all” for her.

Go home

Maria advises people who are thinking of moving to Spain to prepare the best possible and ensure that they understand the differences between the various regions.

“Not all parts of Spain are, for example, hot and hot,” he explains. “If it goes north of Spain, it will rain and it will be cold.”

“So if you want to sunbathe and are moving from Chicago, for example, and feel they want something different, they don’t go north of Spain.”

Maria stresses that making such a change is risky and “can lead to a disappointment.”

“It’s a huge step,” she says. “You are leaving your life and you are changing so many things … So get ready. And get ready financially.”

Although the process of change was not “a soft way,” Maria feels that she has opened many new doors and describes her as the “best decision” she has ever made.

“Changing to a different country is stimulating,” he says. “Because I lost my husband, I was a little pushed …”

“Some people want to move for other reasons. And I think it’s really amazing, because we learned a lot about ourselves.”

“If we stay at the same place for a lifetime, we are just one person. When we move to another country and learn a different language, we can be someone else.”

“One can experience another life. And that is exciting. Because the possibilities increase.”

Although her life has not run as expected, Maria is very excited about the future and feels that she ended up at the place where she should be.

“I’m an immigrant,” he says. “But I also have ties with this place. So I see myself as if I was returning home. Finally, I’m home.”

One of his favorite photographs was taken on the beach in Valencia when he was about five years old.

Looking back, Maria feels it was the last time she had a “torn smile”.

“I was so happy in this photograph,” he says. “And when I came back here, I feel that I found that girl on the beach that was so happy to be in Spain.”

“I wake up and I think, ‘I’m so lucky.’ And I really have. I feel very fortunate to be here.”