U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. We're getting a small taste of what immigration bureaucracy was like during that third wave for our parents and so many others who chose courageously to make lives for themselves in the States. I recently received a letter stating that my first set of fingerprints didn't go through, so I have to return to the Elizabeth (NJ) center early next week to have them retaken. If my fingerprints still don't take (damn eczema on my right hand!), then I'll have to submit copies of my NJ and NY child abuse and criminal clearances. Next we received a letter from USCIS, RFE -- Request for Evidence, requiring proof of my legal name (that's what I get for freely using S-H-E-E-L-A-G-H) and verifying whether or not I have resided in Washington, DC or A. has lived in New York State, which neither of us have. I suppose these things happen.
And despite the multi-layered clearances, sadly there are the stories of adoptees whose adoptive parents molest them. Like the Whisenhunts in WA. Or the Tylers in OK. Heartbreaking.
As A. & I anticipate parenthood and all the anxieties around raising a child, I don't have to question whether or not we'll be good parents. No doubt. We sure will be.
Promise
s/he wonders
we wait
love waxes
as spring buds blossom
in the throes of hopeful expectancy
