My Significant Moment by Jackeline Bau Condo

My Significant Moment 

by Jackeline Bau Condo

A Reunion.

On June 6, 2009 I saw my parents for the first time in ten years.  This day was incredibly happy.  I was excited and very nervous. For ten years I had talked with them only on the phone, and I could not see them.

Why we came?

My brothers, cousins and I decided to come to this country only for the purpose of reuniting with our parents in the U.S. This decision was very difficult because in our country we had loved ones like aunts, uncles, cousins,  grandmothers and  friends. We would miss them very much, but our parents were more important to us.

A decision.

We went to talk with my aunt and my grandmother because we lived with them. We told them that we had decided to leave Ecuador for the U.S. They supported us and understood that was what we wanted.  I asked myself, “How do they look now?” and “Why did they go so far away?” The point was we missed our parents a lot. I knew that we needed my parents. We conversed with my parents on the phone and told them about our decision to go to the U.S.

My dad.

We came to this country and stayed in Los Angeles for two days and then went to Kansas City. There my dad and my uncle were waiting for us. When my daddy was in Ecuador, he looked much younger, but now he looked very different and old. He wore glasses now. He had balded some. His eyes were lined with wrinkles.  We drove home to Minneapolis.

Mom.

When I arrived here in Minneapolis I felt very excited and I cried a lot. I saw how my mom looked out the window, as we got in the parking lot of her building where she lived. These were happy tears because I saw my mom after many years. She looked very different and old. I remember my mom with black hair and no wrinkles but now she has gray hair and some wrinkles. She cried too. She gave me a hug that lasted move than 5 minutes. I remembered ten years earlier when she left me. She told me that she came to the U.S. because she wanted a better future for her children. Now I could fully understand what she had felt ten years earlier because I decided to leave part of my life in Ecuador too. Now we were both immigrants.  She whispered that she felt good because her dream had become reality.

“Thanks for coming....”

After this happy reunion we went to their apartment with my brothers and my cousins. The apartment was small but we were carefree. My mom prepared rice with chicken and to drank she gave soda to us. She told us “Welcome to the U.S” and “Thanks for coming back into our lives.”

Our promise.

We live with our parents now. I now know more about them but I want to continue to know them. We want to help each other. We also have many dreams for the future.  We promise to never separate again.