1) I am thankful for the opportunity to finally see an end to all this misery and heartbreak. Our future is still currently up in the air and rides on the shoulders of an immigration judge, but even knowing that the end of this journey is near is a blessing. Whatever the outcome may be, we will face it united, as a family.
2) I am thankful that Alberto is in Minnesota, even though he has been residing in county jails. June of this year was the first time we had seen one another face to face in 1 year and 2 months. Since then Ashley has come to know her father in a way that talking on the phone and looking at pictures never could.
3) I am thankful that Alberto has rediscovered his faith in God. Faith has the power to move mountains and gives us the strength to take whatever life throws at us. He is well on his way to becoming the man that I knew he could be, someone to admire and be proud of.
4) I am thankful to be employed. I work with people that care and support each other in the good time and the bad. I feel blessed that I was guided to apply at this organization, and only more so to become a full-time employee.
5) I am thankful for my family; my parents, my siblings, and my extended family. It is amazing how a family will rally around a member that is in need of support when they need it the most. There are people in my family who are anti-immigration, but those are the people I have largely learned to ignore from a young age.
6) I am thankful that my daughter loves me, even though I have not always been the best mother I can be. It pains me to admit that I cannot remember the first year of Ashley's life and though I may never forgive myself for that, she loves me.
Lance actually emailed me yesterday, advising that I can call the ICE information line with Alberto's A number and get the court date whenever it gets assigned. I told Lance that I was grateful that he emailed me and that in truth I was thankful that Alberto had been arrested. Ashley has finally had the opportunity to get to know her father in a way she was never able to previously able to because of the distance. When this is finally over with, we will have peace in knowing what to expect no matter what the actual outcome may be. I told Lance that there is no point in fighting against what will be. Alberto wasn’t there for the first time Ashley rolled over, got a tooth, crawled, stood up, or even took her first step. When he left she was eight weeks old, and when we first went to visit she was a 1 1/2 year old toddler. So much time was lost while I was paralyzed by my own pain and grief, too numb to fight for our family.
“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life it to risk nothing.”
Leo BuscagliaCiao
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