TashJGirl

Twenty years ago this past Friday was the day we arrived here. The total flight was the longest of my life (at that point), it was cold, rainy, and dark when we finally arrived at our final destination. We didn’t speak the language, had no relatives here, no money, no car, no confidantes, no people we could ask for advice. What we did have was hope. And fear.

Only my dad and God know how hard it was for us and dad did everything he could to make it easier. I still marvel at how he managed it all; a sick wife, two little kids, and elderly mother, no language, no career, etc. After all, who needs an award-winning journalist in a little town who doesn’t speak the language of the country?

But like I said, we had hope and we had freedoms we never had before, and we had opportunities. Twenty years ago, America had those things, it was a different America. Now, it resembles the country we left more and more to a frightening degree. Who knows, maybe my children will need to move to a different country when things here get like the “old country”. I hope not, for I know of no other country like America; where opportunities are abundant and freedom is real. Even now, I feel lucky, privileged, and proud to be an American. But now my fear of twenty years ago has been transformed from a fear of not knowing how things will turn out to a fear of knowing how things will be, should they continue on this path.