Years ago, she and her husband signed up for the "lottery" in Romania that allows a certain number of Romanian citizens, based on the luck of the draw, to emigrate to The United States permanently. She and her husband were "lucky enough to win one day." And that is how she said it. She knows they were lucky because so few get chosen. Had they gone through regular immigration processes, it could have taken years more, and much, much more money. It is almost impossible for the average citizen to do.
I asked her about Romania and how it was to grow up there and she said "imagine having money and going to the grocery store and the shelves are all empty. It was like that all the time." She explained that they had to buy food (meat and vegetables mostly) on the black market. They would buy from a local farmer who sold them a hog every 3 months. The meat had to last until the next hog came. If the government found out, they would have been in trouble. But they had to eat, somehow.
As we continued to talk, this interesting lady told me that she and her husband began job-hunting in the U.S. before they even came here. Her husband knew a little English and knew someone here already (also from Romania) and they were in contact about a job near where we live. His friend said, "If you can get here, I have a job for you, don't worry." So her husband had a job waiting before he even got off the plane. She, however, didn't have it so easy.
Not knowing English and not having a job lined up, she had to have a plan. So they came here, moved into an apartment in Chicago, and she enrolled in classes at the local junior college to learn one thing: English as a second language. This gave her the confidence to begin her job search. She was determined to work. Funny how she never mentioned any frustration about America not having everything translated into Romanian for her, or how hard it was to make a living here.
Anyway, as soon as she finished her English classes, she went to "get the biggest newspaper" at the news stand near their apartment. She bought one (Chicago Tribune), pulled out the JOBS section and began sending her resume to every job on the list! This woman was going to work! She told me she got calls for interviews and she had sent out so many resumes, she couldn't even remember the names of the companies or the types of jobs she had applied for! But on her second interview, she was hired. Success! But still not the end of the story...
This hard-working lady continued to work at this job doing whatever they asked her to do until she finally got promoted. She told me there were nights, weekends, overtime, additional training and even taking on co-workers' responsibilities when they couldn't (or wouldn't) do it. She said yes to everything. She was trained and promoted again and became a supervisor. She told me her salary and my mouth fell open. But she earned it.
She took some time off to have their first child, and found out quickly that the neighborhood they were in in Chicago was not safe. So they saved their money and moved to the suburbs to raise their small family. She had another child. Now they live near us in a nearby town. Our children just happened to be on the same football team.
Why am I telling this story? Only because I wanted to share how impressed I was with the way this woman and her husband came to America, worked, saved, and are living the American dream. This is the way it should be done. They didn't sneak across the border. And they didn't come here looking for free healthcare, pay under the table with no taxes taken out, or a free ride to college. And they never asked for welfare or food stamps or housing allowance. They didn't demand that everything be translated into their native language because it's "hard" to learn English. They didn't feel "entitled" to anything but a chance. A chance to work. A chance to improve their lives. And a chance to become productive, hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding, proud Americans. This is the kind of immigrant we should allow here. All others should go home.
This couple came here with almost nothing, leaving all of their family, friends, jobs, and most possessions behind in Romania. They feel lucky to be here. They came here legally, and respected our borders, language and culture. Now they have responsible, well-paying jobs and they're teaching their two boys to work hard, study hard and get ahead in this land of opportunity.
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