Hello from Us

Hello everyone - My name is Boris. I live with the Liza Mom. When Simon was here at Christmas last year, they came to the shoe shop where I was living in a grocery basket. They rescued me from a life of living with shoes. It was quite traumatic. When they arrived at the shop, they had with them the most beautiful flatcat I have ever seen!! She is so very lovely, and her name is Rosie. She is my fiancée, and I love her very much. The Liza Mom made her special just for me. We will be married when Simon gets here with the Reverend Father Hodgebadger. Until that time, we are chaperoned by Lord Pevril. I'll let him introduce himself when he gets a chance. He sleeps between Rosie and me in the Liza bed. But we are good Catholic beasts and so he really is not needed. We have promised to behave ourselves until we are married.

Anyway - my name is Boris, and yes, I know, I have one big eye and little feets. It is how I am made, and I'm ok with this because I know I am loved, so it makes no difference what I look like.

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Hi!! I'm Rosie! I'm a flatcat! - hehehe! The Liza Mom made me 'cause she was lonely in her big bed at night, and wanted to fill in the space next to her a bit. She also knew that Boris was coming to live with her, and she did not think that he should be alone, so she whipped me up from little snips and scraps from the sewing basket. I'm very happy with how she chose to make me, 'specially my fancy collar. I will be marrying Boris, we are very much in love. I knew from the first time I saw his handsome big eye, and his sweet pink self, that he was the one for me. Hehehe!! I'm very excited about the Hodges coming to live with us!! It's all very fun having them come from so far away in England to be here. Suzi and I will be able to share beauty secrets and stuff, and maybe if Boris and I have little ones, she can help me learn what to expect. She has very sweet little higlets, I can only hope our little ones will be as cute.

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I, am Lord Pevril. I am Lord of Pevril Castle in Castleton, England. Yes, that means I am English, so you should be impressed (can't you see my accent?). I, also, was rescued, from a horrid gift emporium where sticky, yelling, obnoxious children run free until their parents buy them something. I am quite grateful. Liza and Simon purchased me, and one of my bin-mates, who went to live with an unusually kind little girl named Lizzie. We both were quite fortunate. My duty is to ensure that Boris and Rosie remain chaste until such time as they are married. This has not been difficult as they are both stuffed animals and don't move much. Still, they have requested the presence of a chaperone so there is no appearance of impropriety. Soon they will be married and I will be out of a job. I may return to England to regain control of my castle, unless Mr. Hodgebeast has a role for me in his dominion over the world. This would be convenient, as I would not be required to fly on a plane again, which is quite disturbing. Sheep are not meant to fly.

Are you looking at me?

Are you talking to me? I only ask, because there is no-one else here.

Actually, that's not true. There are one million of us each year, actually.

14% of us come from Mexico, which I guess makes me part of the majority as far as the US is concerned; yes, fully understand the insanity of dividing the world into Mexico and "everywhere else", but wait a moment and I shall explain.

Who are we? We are legal immigrants to the United States.

Yeah, that's right - I'm going to be an immigrant. No, I don't speak Spanish. No, I don't come from a third or a second world country. No, I didn't get here via a dusty lorry along backroads with my passage lubricated by pessos and catcus oil.

I come from the fourth largest economy in the world, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, member of the G8, NATO and the EU. I speak the same language as you. I am Caucasian . . . okay, for those of you who want to pretend that Hispanic is a real ethnic division (it's not, really, it's not) and not just part of Caucasian, I am Anglo-Caucasoid. Yes, I just made that up.

And that is the point that I wish to make here.

I'm not going to get involved in the debate about immigration - because, frankly, it bores me. And it is ridiculous and incomprehensible. No, I am not going to talk about the fact President Bush says that the National Anthem should not be sung in Spanish, and yet uses Spanish himself a lot. Neither am I going to ask how many American-born citizens can innumerate the five freedoms granted in the First Ammendment to the United States Constitution vis-a-vis the number of immigrants who can do the same. I am not going to mention the Dubai Ports debacle and the implied racism of that.

No, such issues - from a European perspective - are non-starters.

Briefly, who the Hell are you? I mean, come on. I own books older than your country. You came from nothing yesterday. As far as most of Europe is concerned, you are all immigrants. In fact, as far as many of you yourselves are concerned, you're all immigrants. You lot come over here looking for your histories and families. You make a big thing of it.

That is fine and wonderful - personally, I wouldn't. Personally, I'd say, "I'm a United States Citizen" and concentrate on getting some history myself. But I digress.

Anyway - putting this aside, what points am I here to make? I am not going to talk about the immigration "issue" - partly because it bores me, but partly because I can't speak intelligently on it. It's not that I don't know about the issues - but rather I can't even grasp the rationale behind the debate. I don't know why people hold the views they do.

But, the point I am trying to make? It is very simple.

14% of legal immigrants are from Mexico. That means the other 86% are not. The majority of legal immigrants to the US do not conform to the image you probably have of them, nor are they even included in the groups you are discussing in the debates.

860,000 non-Mexican people - roughly - will become permanent legal residents of the USA in 2006. One of them will be me.

So, why the furore about Mexico? Is it because it is from Mexico and Latin American that the majority of illegal immigrants come?

The anger appears to be that a law might be passed that would make it easier for people to legally become residents of the USA; a fast-track, an amnesty, whatever.

No-one bitches about the 860,000, do they?

So, the problem isn't about legal immigrants - it's about illegal ones. Okay, that I can understand.

But why the anger about making those 1 million illegal immigrants simply another 1 million legal immigrants? Why the anger about this? You know these people would be vetted - they would have to pay for the service. Alongside making legal immigration easier, illegal immigration would have to be made harder. This is logical. The only thing spoken off has been with reference to benefits to the USA.

At this stage, one has to ask; is this really about immigration?

Or is it, perhaps, simply about race?

I don't think it is - but, then again, I know "Hispanic" isn't an ethnic division.

Do you? And, I ask again, are you - when you think of "immigrant" - looking at me?

Darknight

Happy Spring!

Hello!
It's finally spring! Things are green and flowers are popping out all over the place, it's warm, and a beautiful thing to drive with no shoes on! I love that!

So the planning continues - making arrangements for shipping of things from there to here, finalizing arrangements with where we will have our little luncheon, trying to find a place for the rehearsal meal that won't make us poor, all the fun little things about planning a wedding. :-)

In the mean time, I've been dealing with a nearly broken ankle from missing a step in the corridor at church. Yes, the very evening I would have been fondly remembering the evening of our engagement, I spent with an extremely seriously injured ankle. That was weeks ago, and I'm just now starting to walk in a manner that might be called close to "normal". Still limping with a great deal of pain still, and my toes are still purple - I had to resort to buying another pair of flat shoes. I am totally convinced that there is no such thing as cute flat shoes. And with them, I had to purchase three pair of trousers that are short enough to wear with said flat shoes, or I have very few options for getting dressed for work. I suspect it will be a few months till I can wear proper shoes again.

Sigh.

Anyway, enough about my foot woe!! We are getting married!! This is a really wonderful and amazing thing. I can think of this from a very practical standpoint and realize that I will no longer be alone, I will have someone to be my "helpmate". But from a more important perspective, I will no longer be alone - and I will have a helpmate. The impact of what this really means can be staggering at times. There are some who would say - what the heck is she talking about, she's been there done that, so what's the big deal all of a sudden!? Well, truth be told - I NEVER did that. I have never been in what I consider to be a true marriage in so many respects. Yes, I had a great room mate and a good friend, but Simon will be my first husband. The distinction is dramatic.

I was thinking the other day, that if I had taken the previous episode of my life even half as seriously as I do this decision to marry, it would have never happened. Who knows then what would have come of me, and I don't really care to speculate, as it's silly to do so. But the point being that this isn't just Liza finding some guy on the Internet and hookin' up with him. This is me finding the man who fits me. Not perfectly - that would be horribly booring. But the one who complements me in so many ways. The man who is my calm in the face of my panic, my light in the face of my darkness, my strength over my weakness. He knows me better than I know myself. He loves me inspite of this knowledge. He's stuborn and argumentative, and can be nasty when he's tired. But he will be the one to tell me how beautiful I am when I wake up in the morning, how I am sexy even in flat shoes, and how excited he is to leave everything he has ever known and loved - just to be with me.

The benefit of years is the ability to go into a thing with unclouded vision. Do I think this will be easy? Hell no. I know better than that. Do I think we will live happily ever after? I hope so, but I'm not naive enough to think that it will always be hearts and flowers. Do I think we will always love the way we do now? I hope we don't actually. I want our love to grow and find the depths of itself that only time and marriage can bring. My wish for us is that we will be happy, we will grow in our Faith and our love together, and that we can be an example of that Faith and love to others. Beyond that, it's all cake.

Ok - long rambling update this time. But it's been a beautiful week, I've been stuck in the house when the grass needs cutting, and so I have a lot of time to think. :-) And to sit in front of the computer!!

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to catch up on things. I am hoping that Simon will give us all an update on how the Hodges are preparing for their move to America. I know they are all VERY excited!

Love to all!

~Liza