The Story Behind the Story

I want to share a little bit of the backstory behind Horatio in the Wind.

From a very young age, I carried a deep sense of worry—something invisible but always present. I remember curling up on my dad’s lap, overwhelmed by feelings I couldn’t quite name.

My mom would try to comfort me, telling me I had plenty of time ahead. But I wasn’t looking for reassurance—I was looking for understanding.

My parents believed this feeling had something to do with the circumstances around my birth. My mom spent the last four months of her pregnancy on bed rest; I was too big for her small frame, and she lived 300 miles away from her father, who had just undergone a serious surgery. There was a lot of tension, a lot of hope, and a lot of uncertainty.

That unnamed feeling began to shift in fifth grade, when I wrote a short story for school called La Muerte de la Muerte—Spanish for The Death of Death.

That handwritten story, which my mom saved all these years, became the seed of what would later grow into Horatio in the Wind. It was the beginning of how I started turning my fears into stories—stories filled with wonder, transformation, and healing.

Today, helping others reconnect with presence and peace through storytelling feels like my life’s purpose.

If The Leunam Tales stirs something in you—whether it’s a feeling, a memory, or just a quiet sense of awe—I hope it helps you feel more fully alive, more connected, and more free.

— José Oldenburg