Hiya,
I’m Ubaldo but you can call me Baldo or Ubi (my nickname on the Hilltown). And yes, I’m always somewhere but home, mostly because I no longer have one.
I was born and raised in the Central Coast of California, the son of a Mexican family, which means I grew up living between two worlds before I ever boarded a plane. That perspective of seeing things from the outside in turned out to be the greatest tool I ever had. If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t quite belong where you were, you’re going to fit in here just fine.
For a long time I stayed put. Low confidence, crooked teeth, and a quiet depression that kept me rooted in a place that never quite felt like enough. Then I got braces. A few weeks in I noticed a change. Felt a bit better about myself and decided to book a trip to Jamaica with a friend. The day they came off, I barely recognized myself and things changed quickly. My first move? A group trip to Colombia. Just like that, Baldo was born.
Since then I’ve lived in California, Scotland, and Mexico, spent a few months in Albania, a month in New York (Queens), and chunks of time in places like Fargo, ND. I’ve traveled across 22 countries and most of the United States.
By day I’m a barber. And there is something sacred about that chair. People sit down a stranger and leave having told you things they haven’t told their closest friends. Their marriages falling apart. Their dreams they’ve never said out loud. Their fears, their losses, their small wins. They trust you with their appearance, the thing the world sees first and somewhere in that vulnerability they end up trusting you with everything else too. I’ve been a counselor, a therapist, a life coach, and sometimes a doctor, all before noon. That kind of human connection doesn’t stay in the shop. It travels with you.
And I won’t lie, this blog is born out of necessity. At 34, life threw me a curveball I didn’t see coming. A chapter closed in a way that hurt deeply. I turned 35 in February alone in a hotel room, waiting for a government letter to tell me where my life goes next.
As I write this I am in Longforgan, Scotland, staying in a hotel, waiting on a date that will send me back to Mexico and force me to start over. How did a California boy end up in Scotland in the first place? That’s a story for another day. And why Mexico and not back to California where I was born? Let’s just say home is more complicated than a zip code. I’ll explain that one too, soon. What I can tell you is this: it’s not the first time I’ve had to start from scratch. If I’m being honest it feels like the 28th time.
I had something good here, a barbering career that was growing, a life I was building, friendships I was making. Losing it hurts. The months of uncertainty, waiting on a decision from the Home Office, not knowing which way life was going to fall, took everything out of me. The stress and anxiety were so heavy I literally felt like my body was shutting down. I spent some holidays alone. My birthday too. Just me, a hotel room, and the silence of a life on pause.
This blog is for anyone who has ever felt stuck, scared, or too small for the life they imagined. You don’t need to be scared. You just need to go.
I have no idea what’s coming next. Then again, that’s kind of the whole point. Follow along and figure it out with me.
So, where is Baldo? Even he doesn’t know.
— Baldo