Some people just amaze me.
You know the kind… The kind that live simple lives, but when you hold it up to your busy, cluttered, self-seeking life, you just yearn to be more like them.
Here’s a story of a lady.
An immigrant.
An illegal immigrant with three children and a husband that is now in jail for a little while.
I’ve had the opportunity to just be able to sit down and chat with her about life. About things that have honestly never, ever crossed through the thought processes of this white boy!
Here’s her story…
Her husband, 6 month old baby boy and her moved to the United States (legally) about 10 years ago from Mexico City. They lived several different places, but have been living in College Station for the last year or so.
Since living in the US, they have had 2 more children (American citizens).
Her and her husband fell in love when they were young. They have been with each other every since and never thought any other way. They desperately love their family!
Living in the US has not been everything they thought it would be. The only thing that keeps them going is the fact that they can make more money polishing the floors at Albertson’s through the watches of the night than they could working 5 times as much in Mexico. In Mexico, their children don’t stand a chance… in America there is this hope. A hope that when anyone looks at their situation would say is probably non-existant. But, not in their eyes.
About 6 months ago, her husband was arrested for stealing prescription drugs to feed an addiction that she had no clue he had. This man that she has known for most of her life was falling into a problem that would end up costing his family quite a bit. He’s been in jail every since… he’ll be back in court in a few months though… who knows what the judge will rule.
Now, this mother of three has been forced to make some ends meet to the best of her abilities. She works the graveyard shift, leaving her kids at home with a trusted friend at night.
To add to that… their visas have run up. They are now illegal. Her husband will probably be deported when he gets out of jail… but, hopefully she can stay under the watchful eyes of the INS for as long as possible… and if need be, he will try to get smuggled back into the country for a few thousand dollars.
She’s really worried about her son. Since his dad has been away, he just hasn’t been the same. She knows that not having a male in his life is really screwing him up… but, how does she fix that?
When she sees the lady in the trailer next door able to stay home with her children while her husband provides for the family, she gets envious. She never asked to be the sole provider for her family… when she thinks about what her husband has left her with, she just wants to scream!
She has a hard time understanding why people are the way they are in America. She lives in a trailer park, literally surrounded on every side with people… none of them come out of their homes to meet each other. She misses the days in Mexico where people would just get together and laugh and dance and listen to music and eat. There was community there… they were in each other’s lives. She doesn’t have that here.
She has come to Living Hope lately with a friend, and commented to me that she has seen people there actually getting into people’s lives and caring about what is going on with each other. That’s the first time she has seen that in America! She desperately wants it.
Her story has been tumbling around in the back of my head all day! I just can’t shake it. I think about the stress that she is going through… the feeling she must have when people get annoyed with her because she doesn’t speak perfect English in a culture that is wound up so tight that we get impatient when someone is going 34 in a 35 mph speed zone.
I was thinking tonight about the fact that never once in my life have I EVER been denied access to something. If I had the money for the plane ticket, there isn’t one place on the face of this planet that wouldn’t let me come to their country. I’m an American… I don’t have to worry about that.
I just can’t figure out why the standard is so much different for me. I guess I understand… but, it just blows my mind when I think about how easily I could have born in Cuba. What would life be like if my every thought was about trying to get to America so I could have a “better life”… and then getting here and realizing that it’s not that much better.
I guess I just needed to get that out or something. Maybe next time you see someone like her, you may look at them through a different lens. I know that I do!
This post is not a political statement. Oh, how I wish that it could be! But, the fact is… I don’t know the answer to this one. It confuses me… It frustrates me… It breaks my heart.
Great story. Meeting people like that really gives us perspective. We should always remember how blessed we are, and that should spur us on to bless others. And for those of us who don’t know people like the woman in your post exist, we need to get out more and meet people unlike us.
how wonderful it is to meet people that live completely different lives than us. It is incredible to think about the fact that we did nothing to be born into this country where we get automatic access to everything. What a responisbility as God’s people to stand up for the oppressed. I hope that this woman can rub off on the people in her neighborhood and make America a little more like Mexico community…we’d all be better off!
thanks for writing about this.
I’ve been feeling like I’m “wound up tight” and I would hate to dismiss someone like this woman just because it doesn’t fit in my jam-packed schedule.
umm…can we talk about the new button you have added to link to your Malawi update blog…you are incredible! how do you do these things! This along with your sense of amazing direction are things I am not going to try to gain myself…but just enjoy that fact that you can do them so i dont have to figure out how! wow…