Posted on 01/07/2007 1:51:52 PM PST by Hostage
I married 14 years ago and just had my firstborn, a son, this past September.
I met my wife in medical school. She was originally from Lithuania and when I met her she was on a H1-B visa working as an adjunct professor of internal medicine.
She had made significant contributions to medical science and had been asked to lecture at med school for the year. That was 16 years ago in the afterglow of the world of Ronald Reagan. She became a naturalized US citizen in 1996.
We've had a real love affair ever since but children did not come easy for us and we had given up hope the year before last when suddenly our prayers were answered with a 'miracle'. There were no fertility treatments, nothing artificial, just natural in its occurance but unexpected.
The birth of our son has been a joy without limit and it continues to be so. But prior to knowing of the miracle to come we had lived for years in despair (most couples with fertility problems will know exactly what I am talking about).
During those years of despair there was one other person whose despair seemed greater than our own, that was my wife's mother who still lives with her family in Lithuania. She wanted so badly to be a grandmother. She prayed and prayed and prayed. When my wife would call her on Sundays, her mother would always cry and it always fell to my wife to calm her down. This constant weeping, in addition to our own despair, was more than we could take and as a result my wife began to look for excuses not to call her mother.
News of the coming arrival of our son made my wife's mother a changed person. She wanted to come immediately but my wife's father has a herniated disc and cannot move unless heavily dosed with painkillers. We are trying to save money to get for him an operation that we hope will give him many years of freedom to move his body. He would also like to see his grandson.
But grandmother was able to get her sister and her son to look after grandfather while she travels to the US to see her blessed treasure, her grandson.
So we bought her a roundtrip ticket on Scandinavian Airlines and she connected in Copenhagen before setting foot in Seattle last night.
Her son had taken her to the US consulate last week to make sure her visa was in order. As she does not speak English, he wrote her a note (he is fluent in English and works as an IT professional throughout Europe) to present to customs that she was traveling to see her grandson and numbers to call if there were any problems. On the note he wrote our names, address, telephone numbers. He also gave her a cell phone and called me the day before she left to make sure I had her cell number.
Last night grandmother was making her way through customs and we were outside waiting for her with our 3 month old son. We were waiting a longtime when suddenly my cell phone rang and it was a customs official telling me that they needed to contact the daughter of a person they were holding. Knowing they were referring to my wife's mother I said "no problem, her daughter is right here waiting with me" and I handed the phone to my wife.
The customs official asked my wife to talk to her mother and to tell her to answer the questions they were asking her. My wife said she does not speak English and asked what questions did they have for her. They said to ask her if she had any cigars, weapons and so on in her possession. My wife was then put on the phone with her mother and repeated what the customs official had asked. They then let grandmother go.
Grandmother came up an escalator into the international baggage claim area with tears in her eyes and she at once saw me, then my wife and the baby. I thought the tears were of joy but my wife later told me they were tears of fear, fear that customs was going to send her back to Lithuania. But there were also tears and smiles of joy as grandmother and grandson immediately fell in love.
Here's the story and the reason we are "fed up".
Customs had asked grandmother a series of questions and she could not answer. She kept telling them "no English, no English" but they took her out of line and then called for a detail to escort her to a retention room, a room that was according to grandmother a long long way through many doors and up and down many floors. In this room they made her strip to her bra and panties and would not allow her to make any phone calls. She was left in this room crying when the customs lady called us on my cell phone.
She was let go out of the retention room but no one escorted her back to the customs line. She had no idea where she was and how to get back to where she was, in other words she was lost. I haven't asked yet how she found her way out because she is bonding with her long awaited grandchild and I don't want to spoil the happiness we all have now by pressing her for details.
Today she is doting on her grandson and both are all smiles. But her impression of America or at least Seattle SeaTac airport is forever a memory of fear.
I asked her if things went well when connecting in Copenhagen and she said "Copenhagen good, Seattle no good".
I'm happy about that!
I did think of my Me Maw going thorough this though, Oh My! it would have been dinner conversation forever!
I loved her, God knows, but Me Maw had a taste for high drama!
This is a great story, Hostage. People everywhere will be interested, because it could happen to them, or their families.
Goodness that what wasn't what I asked....I wanted to know if you had a personal problem with them. If you read my very 1st post you would see that I said about all of this .... I just wondered if you had something personal against them ...my grandparents are from there too. And they didn't speak english but then they came through Ellis Island. I think we need to have security at airports without a doubt. As for leaving a woman in her undies ... well I think thats not right. Terrorists come from many countries and they come in all ages , from children to the grandmother who recently blew herself up for Allah.
This is disgraceful and outrageous and, on behalf of real Americans, please convey our apologies to your Mother-in-Law. This is TSA/Customs crap that is directed by one of the most incompetent and overpriced agencies in America.
Complain to Michael Chertoff - he runs the Dept. of Homeland Security and should be taken to task for this outrage.
A few hours inconvenience at least assures that she arrived safely to see her precious grandson. I would think the inconvenience is worth the feeling of security.
We haven't heard from you...what is going on with the situation?
Or commended for securing us to the point of not having a 9/11 incident since 09-11-2001.
Lord Jesus, that IS beyond awful.
I hope dying is less painful.
I need to get in touch with you ASAP....there are folks wanting to know your story. The folks at SeaTac are especially interested, LOL!!!
Pleae FReepmail me for connections.
Golly whillickers, you're right!! I had forgotten about all the grannies who perpetrated 9/11 on us!! I can't understand how I missed such an important fact!!
As a matter of fact, I forgot about all of the grannies who have perpetrated terrorist acts around the world!!!
Just for fun, pretend that you understand the way that the government acted in this incident, and their indifference to enforcing the sovereignty of our southern and northern borders!! Does this inconsistent stupidity make any sense at all to you?? We have worse people walking across the border from Mexico and you're cheering customs strip-searching a grandmother!!! Mighty strange set of rules you live by.
Go for it ........^)
Hostage, I wouldn't press her too hard about details. Let her enjoy being with family, take her to church, let her experience the greatness of our country. We're more than airport security and bureaucracy.
On my last trip through airport security I watched them give the full treatment to an old guy who was so frail he could hardly put his shoes back on.
You should contact the most powerful grandmother in America, Speaker Pelosi. If the Dems are as shrewd as they usually are, they will realize how sick and tired we are of having our elderly harassed at our airports and they will pass a law banning it. That will garner them thousands of votes in the next election.
Golly whillickers, I work at an airport, have a pass to board, am authorized to walk the ramp and STILL get strip searched, questioned, and "have a nice day" EVERY time I board an aircraft for a trip after swiping my card for access that I earned by getting background checked and fingerprinted every 6 months by the FBI when I have been a citizen of the USA since birth.
Do I complain? NO!
Isn't it funny...we can no longer connect to the original post...Hmmmmm
How strange!
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