Moving On
A large lorry laden with bricks slammed into my chest. Everything froze in front of my eyes: time, my family, my thoughts. Well, that’s what it felt like. The same phrase repeated in my head: ‘They denied our green card appeal’. Tears began streaming down my
face.
I flashed back to the summer of 2007, my family and I moved from England to a boarding school in Tennessee, USA. Being only six years old at the time, I acclimatized quickly to the change of scenery. We were living there on a five-year visa which would expire in 2012. As the time of the visa expiration approached, my parents applied for our green cards. They filled out many forms, and sent them in. We went to a doctor’s office to receive the different shots required for the green card application.
June 2013 came around, and we received a letter telling us that our green cards had been denied. At twelve years old and being quite naive, I told myself that the government had made a mistake and we would receive another letter saying that they sent us the wrong letter. I convinced myself of everything except the fact that we might have to uproot our lives at any given moment. That summer, I attended my first, invigorating camp in Virginia, and became certified in First Aid and CPR. A four-day family trip to visit friends in Florida, over the Fourth of July weekend, followed. It was as if my parents knew it would be our last summer there. During summer break, my parents met with a lawyer to fill out the appeal form. Summer break ended, and my hopes were still up for an apology letter.
The school year began again, and life carried on as normal. I went to school, and hung out with friends. I thought life was going just fine until that fateful winter morning.
