An Immigration Love Story

Last August I married Paco—the love of my life, my soul mate, my other half, and a million-and-one other clichés that make cynics roll their eyes or shove their fingers down their throats—and after twenty-three blissful days of togetherness, we’ve been separated ever since. Not by choice, but because in order to live our “happily ever after,” we need to live in the same country (sharing the same tube of toothpaste and bed would be nice too). Moving myself and my seven children to Peru wasn’t an option, and since Paco has had custody of his two daughters the majority of their lives, we chose to have them immigrate here to The United States.

Easier said than done!

This has definitely been the longest and most difficult year of my life dealing with this whole immigration nightmare. But it’s almost over! (Do I hear a hallelujah?!) Hopefully before summer’s end and maybe before our one year anniversary—please, oh please, oh puh-leeeeze, Heavenly Father, Uncle Sam, and the Powers That Be at USCIS, let it be before our one-year-anniversary!—our not-so-little family will finally be together.

And the fun begins!

Paco and I have no delusions that we are creating some multicultural fairytale to be set in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. We knew from the beginning that we would have our challenges. (By the way, neither of us is a stranger to challenge, and hello…this first year of marriage has been nothing but a challenge!) But I’m an optimist, a dreamer, a believer, and an achiever—I have to be. Thankfully, so is Paco. Sure we’ll have our bumps and lumps as we combine our two families, two languages, two cultures, two religions, and the list goes on... But we have one heart, and with this heart (which is bigger than the state of Texas) we will take on each challenge and whup its sorry tail! Just sayin’.

And you can watch us… Or read about it, anyway, in this blog.

Introducing the cast:

Me: Tami—also known to the cast as Mom, Mommy, Mommy Tami, and Gringa (a term of endearment Paco gave me 29 years ago (and that story is coming)—thus, Mommy Gringa. I gave birth to 7 children from a previous marriage, and thank God every day for those 7 and the 2 bonus daughters I’ve been blessed with. I love writing, reading, dancing, Raisin Bran, diet Coke and dark chocolate. Would love to play drums in a rock band some day…with Lenny Kravitz and Prince on guitar, and Michael Buble and/or Paul McCartney on lead vocals. Hey…why not?

Paco: Love of my life, my handsome husband, and my boyfriend 29 years ago when I was an exchange student in Peru (summer of ’81). Father to 2 beautiful daughters, and insurance executive. “People Person” extraordinaire. Loves soccer, ‘80s music, soccer, action movies, soccer, dancing, and soccer (or should I say, futbol?).

Adult Children: (They come and go from home but are always in our hearts.)

Preston: the writer, a.k.a. The British Guy (because apparently he looks like one).

Amber: mother of my grandkittens. (Both Preston and Amber are in their last year of college).

Lexi: mother of Tristan, a.k.a. Mr. Twister, and responsible for making us grandparents at a much-too-young age!

Josh: Muscle Guy! Starting community college in the fall.

Teens/Pre-Teens:

Tommy: Piano Man and Ladies Man-in-Training—Oy!

Mafe: Total Latin Beauty! She also speaks and understands quite a bit of English.

Spencer: Our funny guy!

The “Twins”:

Maki and Allie—Amazing, we know, but somehow Paco and I produced “twins.” They’re 10 months apart in age and speak different languages, but look and act so much alike—really!. We can’t wait till these two are actually in the same room together. Our bet is that they’ll create their own language…and maybe even drive us all crazy.

There’s much more to come, so stay tuned…