I received a call from my aunt, Marilene, today.
She was in tears (this is not abnormal for her) because her husband, Claude (a French Canadian fellow) has been denied a green card. Claude has been living in the US (illegally) for a decade, but in 2003 he finally applied for a green card (Yay for the American Way).
Claude works construction as a sub-contractor and he is currently injured so he hasn’t been able to work for a few months. Fortunately, he has money saved for this sort of thing so he’s financially solvent. In fact, he was about to buy a new house before he received this whammy today.
According to the immigration folks, since Claude is currently jobless, he needs to have a sponsor. A U.S. citizen that will “vouch” for him so that he isn’t a burden to the US Government. This sponsor needs to have assets and/or income that exceeds the poverty line.
Enter: Me (one of two U.S. Citizens in my family, the other being my dad who is currently on a slow boat to India)
The only things that bothers me is that
1)I was asked at the last minute (at this point the forms need to be turned in within a week).
2)Why is it that adult members of my family have no sense whatsoever how to deal with life?
3)Since when did I become the parent cleaning up after my fucked up kids?
That said… I will, in all likelihood, send in the forms necessary for Claude to stay in the U.S. I’m such a sucker… ;/
Dood, you’ve been the grownup in your family since I met you, and that was in tenth grade. Heh.
I used this icon because I know how many times I’ve seen you want to give your family a nice big cup! But you’re too nice a guy to have actually followed through. Isn’t that the difference between mean and nice: a mean person is just one who does what crosses the mind, while nice people grit their teeth and bear it?