Immigrant Anecdotes (please excuse my grammar)
I left Colombia my native country 13 years ago for the USA, leaving behind my lovely wife and two year-old daughter Natalia. The visa office refused their applications probably on the suspicion that we wanted to settle down there, and they were right. My objective was to find better opportunities to get ahead in life for all of us, specially my daughter. I remember my father consoling me from a broken heart for having to leave my family behind, €Don't worry€, he said, €Kids that age forget easily€, referring to my daughter, €In a couple weeks she won't even notice that you are not around anymore€. His words brought about contradictory feelings inside me, on one hand, it was good to know that my daughter will not feel abandoned by her father as she would forget me in a couple of weeks at most, according to my father, on the other hand I did not want to be forgotten by the only person on earth who owned me, heart and soul.
With these mixed emotions I landed on Houston, TX, to live with one of my wife's aunt who had came to the USA about 10 years ago. Martha, my wife's aunt was a very kind person, she was married to another Colombian native, they had a daughter. She seemed to be at peace with herself considering that her husband was an oil worker and happened to be away from home for 25 days in a row every month, in the oil platforms of the Gulf of Mexico. Martha confessed to me that she had not gone back to Colombia ever since because she was not a US legal resident yet. She had no papers to travel out and more importantly, to travel back into the USA. €10 years of hardships in the USA and not yet a legal resident?€, €When am I going to see my family again if that ever happen?€, I thought to myself.
Five months in the USA went by quickly. One more month and I would overstay my visa, and would become another illegal resident, like the many I had met at the restaurants I found work at, as a waiter. One cunning individual had provided me with a fake green card and social security number for $100 USD that allowed me to work. Employers would not ask about the validity of those papers, thanks God. I had to work to provide for my much missed wife and daughter. One nice Mexican buddy, waiter like me, I do not recall his name, was also married with kids. Although he was alone in the USA, he only needed to ride a couple hours across the border and see his family whenever he wanted to. He was worry about my loneliness and had a sort of premonition. €USA is not for you€, he once told me, €I can see you better off in Canada, go there, you will reunite with your family soon€.
His words resounded in my mind like a thunder. Canada, oh my God!, off course, Canada!!!, it is not a coincidence that I had dreamed countless times about quiet lakes in my gone infancy. Two hundred and seventy days after my arrival in Canada, I saw my wife and almost 5-year-old daughter at the Toronto airport, carrying their baggage, my wife smiling at me. I overheard my daughter asking her mom, €Is this my father, mom?€, €Yes sweetheart€, she said, €This is your daddy€.
I left Colombia my native country 13 years ago for the USA, leaving behind my lovely wife and two year-old daughter Natalia. The visa office refused their applications probably on the suspicion that we wanted to settle down there, and they were right. My objective was to find better opportunities to get ahead in life for all of us, specially my daughter. I remember my father consoling me from a broken heart for having to leave my family behind, €Don't worry€, he said, €Kids that age forget easily€, referring to my daughter, €In a couple weeks she won't even notice that you are not around anymore€. His words brought about contradictory feelings inside me, on one hand, it was good to know that my daughter will not feel abandoned by her father as she would forget me in a couple of weeks at most, according to my father, on the other hand I did not want to be forgotten by the only person on earth who owned me, heart and soul.
With these mixed emotions I landed on Houston, TX, to live with one of my wife's aunt who had came to the USA about 10 years ago. Martha, my wife's aunt was a very kind person, she was married to another Colombian native, they had a daughter. She seemed to be at peace with herself considering that her husband was an oil worker and happened to be away from home for 25 days in a row every month, in the oil platforms of the Gulf of Mexico. Martha confessed to me that she had not gone back to Colombia ever since because she was not a US legal resident yet. She had no papers to travel out and more importantly, to travel back into the USA. €10 years of hardships in the USA and not yet a legal resident?€, €When am I going to see my family again if that ever happen?€, I thought to myself.
Five months in the USA went by quickly. One more month and I would overstay my visa, and would become another illegal resident, like the many I had met at the restaurants I found work at, as a waiter. One cunning individual had provided me with a fake green card and social security number for $100 USD that allowed me to work. Employers would not ask about the validity of those papers, thanks God. I had to work to provide for my much missed wife and daughter. One nice Mexican buddy, waiter like me, I do not recall his name, was also married with kids. Although he was alone in the USA, he only needed to ride a couple hours across the border and see his family whenever he wanted to. He was worry about my loneliness and had a sort of premonition. €USA is not for you€, he once told me, €I can see you better off in Canada, go there, you will reunite with your family soon€.
His words resounded in my mind like a thunder. Canada, oh my God!, off course, Canada!!!, it is not a coincidence that I had dreamed countless times about quiet lakes in my gone infancy. Two hundred and seventy days after my arrival in Canada, I saw my wife and almost 5-year-old daughter at the Toronto airport, carrying their baggage, my wife smiling at me. I overheard my daughter asking her mom, €Is this my father, mom?€, €Yes sweetheart€, she said, €This is your daddy€.