SURPRISES

Thank You and Congrats to my brother, Johnny, and my mom for making it happen!

This month/year has been full of surprises. Some have been good another ones not so good, yet the outcome will always the same "an adventure". An adventure that we are the ones that decide which path is going to take.

After I surprised them we went to get something to eat.

The night I arrived home from the trials, there was a situation in the family that was even more powerful than my personal disappointment from the trials. My mother was in a local hotel downtown El Paso Texas waiting for the day she was going to meet with a consul in Ciudad Juarez for her residence card. The following morning as soon as I woke up my first question was: What am I doing here? So, I grabbed a few outfits, got in the car and drove to El Paso to be with my mom and brother.

Next morning on our way to the American Consulate in Ciudad Juarez

If you are not familiar with the immigration process to get become a resident of the USA, let me tell you a few things.

1) Is a long process: Mom's case had been in process for two years already and still with the possibility of being rejected.

2) Its expensive: So far without a lawyer we had spend over 6 thousand dollars, not counting the trip to El Paso Texas for final interview in Ciudad Juarez. Just the medical exams two days before the interview at the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez were $450 dollars.



If approved this will be the first step in case my mom decides to become a US Citizen one day. If her residence is granted then she has to wait 5 years before she applies for citizenship.
Then, I wonder, how come our politicians or news reporters don't tell us that to become a US Citizen one needs to have the time and plenty of money to cover the cost of the process?



Being there allowed me to see success and failure from a different perspective. It was so surreal to see hundreds of people standing outside the US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez waiting for their relatives to come out of the building they were being interviewed, others walking from one building to another nicely dressed with thick folders on their hands. Once again, we were not alone.





In the nearby hotels, you will see people calling home to ask for a missing signature, a sponsor, money, a missing document, you name it. Two hours later I see my mom and my brother coming. Mom with an unusual smile on her face. That's when I knew, they had granted her the residence.


In order to process her residence, they took her passport and visa away. Mon has to wait 3 to 4 weeks before she receives her residence card (Green card). So, after we visited and had lunch we took mom to the bus station for her to to go back to Charcas (12 hour express bus ride). Mom suggested that instead of taking a taxi downtown it would be better for us to take the public bus to save some money (18 dollars). We did and yes! There were more lessons and surprises during the bus ride.




Two days later after the trials, there I was walking with my brother through downtown Ciudad Juarez letting my heart grow in a way I have never imagined. I realized that the most valuable lessons in life will always have a very special price. Surprise, surprise!