I kinda like the idea that when their daughters were younger, Julieta and Agustín discussed the possibility of leaving Casita so here’s my headcanons about that:
When the girls are younger, maybe a year or so, before Mirabel’s ceremony, Julieta and Agustín start noticing some pressure on their girls. It wasn’t actually so obvious with Isabela, she loved her gift and loved showing it off and loved making Abuela happy and it hadn’t quite hit her yet.
Luisa, however, was burning through a lot of her energy not too long after getting her gift. People were starting to take advantage, and the girl would just say she loved offering to help more and more and sometimes forgot her limits as she grew, but it wasn’t always convincing.
They discuss leaving the Encanto. Agustín wasn’t born there, he’s got family out there in another city. But Julieta doesn’t want to leave her whole family, she doesn’t want her daughters to leave them either. Doesn’t want to uproot their whole lives and make them start somewhere completely new. She’d also feel guilty about leaving the Encanto without their healer. (And honestly the thought of leaving the Encanto scares Julieta a little bit, the place is all she’s ever known.)
They discuss moving to a separate house in the Encanto. They could still see their family, but they could also shield their girls a little better from the expectations and pressure constantly surrounding them in Casita.
The problem with this plan though, is that it puts their family issues on display for the whole Encanto. It’s not that big of a place, so everyone will notice, they’ll ask questions, and they’ll want to make the Madrigal’s business everyone’s business. It would draw so much attention to them, which is exactly the kind of thing they’d want to be avoiding if they left.
So they kind of resign themselves to keeping to things as they are now, not quite ready to make that move but telling themselves if the right sign came, they’d do it.
Mirabel’s ceremony comes and around and she doesn’t get a gift. They’d never say it to anyone else, but when the initial confusion wears off, Julieta & Agustín don’t think having no gift is a terrible thing, after seeing what their eldest two daughter’s would sometimes deal with, what Julieta’s dealt with her whole life.
But they do worry how others will act, how their family will act, how Abuela will act, and the thought of leaving is present in their minds again. And had Bruno chosen to show them that vision, had Abuela reacted harshly, as was expected by Bruno, that probably would’ve been the last straw that would’ve made Julieta and Agustín take all their girls and go leave.
