Showing posts with label Immigration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immigration. Show all posts

Jan 3, 2014

The Great {IN}Justice System

Today is January 3rd.  The last day available to appeal the judge's last decision to remove Carlos from the great USofA.  And, of course, we won't, that was already decided, but now that it's here, they are free to come pick up Carlos and put him on a very long bus ride "home."

"Home" seems a strange word to relate to a place I barely am even acquainted with, but I'm sure I will come to love it.  I do love Mexico already.  I always wanted to live 100 years ago, and well, in some ways, this grants that request.  Of course Mexico isn't all antiquated, they have cars and cell phones, internet and TV, but the style of living from 100 years ago continues, only it coexists with modern technology.  It's a strange relationship to me, but one that I will come to know well.  I look forward to learning my new environment, new customs, new "norms" although I usually go against them anyway.

I am a little frustrated (to say the least) with the way this whole thing has gone, though.  And to think that "justice was served" is quite maddening.  How is it just?  What defines justice?  A hard-working man, taken away from his family indefinitely, sent back to his "country of origin" without the least regard toward his wife and children, who by the way are US Citizens, is thrown away, and we call this justice because he was never supposed to have been here in the first place.  So what then?  Is it better to throw away one man who didn't belong, and sacrifice three of it's own citizens?  Is it just for my own country to have betrayed me and my children?  This "Land of Opportunity"?

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning,
And her name, Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor
That twin cities frame.
"Keep, Ancient Lands, your storied pomp!"
Cries she with silent lips.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!


Dec 26, 2013

Nostalgia

Okay, so it is Christmas Day, but just barely. 2:15am, lol. I just made a Christmas post, and I didn't want to be a downer to anyone, so I left it upbeat, and decided I would write this and save it as a draft and publish it in a few days. :)

All these holidays and birthdays are really making me sad and dragging me down. It's a time to be with family and celebrate life and love and all the good things, but without Carlos here, it makes it hard. I feel like we should be doing this together. And although I trudge on through, the children should not have to suffer through a mommy who isn't good at coping and it weighs on my heart. I feel like he is missing out on all these precious moments and I have to enjoy them doubly so he can absorb those experiences from me when our family is reunited. I want to represent him to the children until he comes home, so they know he is always present, or at least wants to be more than anything in the world. But I fail. Epically. I am so terrible at being Mother AND Father. Super kudos to all you single mothers who do it everyday. Carlos and I have discussed what we would do if we ever found ourselves in the position of losing the other and having to raise the kids alone. And we both agreed that we would incorporate as much of the other person into our customs and ways of raising the children as much as possible. Thankfully, I haven't lost him, just temporarily, but I really sucked at that! Ha! I can't be Carlos to the children. I am too busy struggling to be me and too preoccupied with doing the very best that I can to make sure they don't grow up too dysfunctional due to all of my shortcomings. All I can do is pray that there was some purpose in God's plan and that they will be blessed and blessings as they become adults, that God will shield them from absorbing anything that doesn't benefit them and make them sponges to the good things he provides. Giancarlo and Carmen-Elena are so very precious to my heart. I guess being a mom teaches you how much you don't know and how incapable you are of handling life, haha, but then once in a while I catch a glimpse of myself through GC's eyes and it never fails to amaze me. Without fail it will happen when I am doubting myself or being super hard on myself for some other epic failure, and he will look at me and say, "Yes you can Mommy, I know you can! You can do anything! I trust you." And just like that, I'm reminded that the things I allow to grow and overwhelm my mind are not as big as I imagined. I take myself way too seriously most times. My dad used to always say not to take life too seriously, because no one gets out alive anyway, life's a bitch and then you die, haha... Anyway, I'm rambling now. That's normal, just so you know... :)

The point of all this? Eh... I'm just feeling nostalgic. :) It gets better! I know! Just hang in there with me. Soon this will all be a distant memory, a precipice in ours lives, a time of spiritual growth and maturity for both of us. I'm thankful for it already, because although it has been hard, this has been a time of grace. Grace has been measured to me in abundance, and Carlos has found grace, maybe for the first time ever, I don't know. I am blessed beyond measure, and I have peace about our upcoming move to Mexico. Thank you all for your continued prayers. I love you all.



Holly






Dec 21, 2013

And Life Goes On

It seems like it always takes me a little while to process new information before I can accept that it is a reality...

These last seven months have really dragged.  I've felt like my life has been suspended in mid-air, no moving forward or backward, just frozen in time, full of anticipation, fear, dread, hope, and even some excitement at times, of what lies in store for us.  I've wanted to prepare to move my family to Mexico, so that I would be ready at the drop of a hat, but I never could bring myself to actually do anything about it, because I still clung, and wanted to cling, to the hope of staying stateside.

It's not that I dislike Mexico, by any means; I just wanted to have a choice, a say in the matter,some semblance of control over my own future.  But maturity and experience have taught me that it was a choice I made when I said "I do," and I'm okay with that.  The thought of living in Mexico is a bit daunting, though, because I am not Mexican, I have never lived anywhere else than right here, in this same 25 mile radius, my whole 27 years of life.  There are so many variables and unknowns that I can't find the solution in my head (oh, that's my inner math geek showing, don't mind her...).

Dec 14, 2013

Unexpected

Blah...  That's how I feel today...  Just, blah...

I am such a mess.  I got some information over the weekend that Carlos may be making his way to Mexico sooner than I had anticipated.  Well, maybe not sooner, but definitely more suddenly than I expected.


More to come...

Dec 13, 2013

Confessions

It has been several months since my last post, but I have been thinking about jumping back on here and posting again.  I have had some time to acclimate myself to the situation I am in, and I have become numb to the pain I felt when I wrote my last post.

I went back and re-read it, and I had almost forgotten the sharpness of the pain I felt at that point, the way I sat in front of the computer in tears as I put my heart to paper.  But now...  It's different...  I'm okay...  I have peace...  It's not any easier, because Carlos still isn't here.  But he isn't gone either.  And I'm not alone, although some days I still feel that way.  Life keeps going and moving, and stops for no man.  I have learned that through experience, first when my father passed away in 2007, and now when my husband has been taken from me for a period of time.  It just takes awhile to remember that you do indeed know how to breathe, that you are capable of putting one foot in front of the other, and living life has become so second nature, that you will continue to move and grow, even if only reluctantly...

When I started this blog, or started writing semi-regularly anyway, I was so high on life, with a new baby, new mother of two, learning the joys of having a boy and a girl, a big kid and a baby, watching my husband ogle over our new daughter, busy making Christmas presents for the WHOLE family...  and my posts reflected that.  I won't say that I wasn't real, but I will admit I was shallow in my blogging.  I want to be more transparent, especially because that is something that is so hard for me to do, but something I crave with all my heart, something I long to feel: openness.

And that's what I'm going to try to do.  Be open and honest about me and my life, and maybe you can relate, maybe you care, maybe not.  But this is my blog and that's my prerogative, haha...  To my family and friends:  thanks for being there for me.  I love you all so much more than you know.


Holly