The Death of the Lonely Gringo?

                                          Marina Keegan

This is and will be an eventful week.

Having my eldest daughter in Nacogdoches has been quite the blessing.  Now, when I say something to myself, I'm not alone.  I prefer these problems to my prior problems!

Miss Victoria begins her second week of classes Monday.  It's not just class.  It's class, tutorials, study sessions, work, and home stuff.  Her days are long, since she works at the local Japanese restaurant.  We don't have a Wendy's, a Home Depot, or a Target...yet we have a Japanese restaurant, a Hallmark Store, and ready access to Merle Norman Cosmetics.

Tori and I reworked the back porch.  We strung lights and cleaned it up.  Having someone else in the household keeps a person more focused on household things.  You have a second set of eyes (or third, or fourth…) to notice things that need improvement.  As of today, it looks like a nice place to hang out & discuss life.  It's more than that, though.

We’re getting the house ready for an arrival.

On Saturday, Mrs. Henley picked up her visa from the courier.  Two days later, she had the Philippines stamp her visa, allowing her to emigrate.  After all, you have to emigrate before you immigrate.  

It looks as though we are almost finished and ready to make that giant move.

She just needs one…more…stamp…

So here’s the plan. I’d call it Plan B, but that letter was gone months ago.  We may have run out of letters by now.

• On September 7 at 12:40 p.m. (Manila Time) my wife will board a plane on EVA Airlines.
• She will fly to Taipei and experience a 7-hour layover.                                
• She will board a second flight, ending in Houston, Texas at 11:50 p.m. on Friday, September 7.
• She will encounter the Port of Entry with her sealed packet from the embassy.
• She will have her visa stamped and enter the United States as a legal permanent resident.
• She will find me waiting for her.

At every point in this grueling, costly process, we have encountered issues.  Some of those have been our fault; others involve rules that don’t seem to be listed anywhere.  The POE should be a formality, but those women and men work for Customs and Border Patrol.  They’re hired and trained to be suspicious.  I know that directly, from my U.S.-Mexico travels and returns.  

As our President says, "We will see what happens." We can do the things listed above (if allowed).  The rest is up to God. I’m okay with that.

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This week also marks the SECOND Labor Day I do NOT have off.  

There is no Labor Day in Hell.

Remember that (alala ba).