Day 62 was our daughters 10th birthday. I still can’t believe she’s ten, that went by fast. Over a month ago I told her that I was going to miss her birthday because I had to be in court on the 18th, 19th, and 20th. She took it like a champ with a stiff upper lip. But then a week after I told her, she confessed to me how sad it made her and started crying, so I changed my flight to leave the afternoon of her birthday so I wouldn’t miss it entirely. We flew in on day 61 from Mexico City, and I flew out the next day on day 62. She had a great birthday, having pancakes for breakfast and then fast food for lunch. Her mom took them all to Applebee’s for dinner which is a treat because they have a huge playground inside the restaurant here.
Instead of a non stop flight from our city to Oakland thought, I had to take a flight to Houston and then to Oakland. I got home close to midnight and thanks to our close friend Vadim didn’t have to rely on Uber or a taxi, he picked me up from SFO and drove me back to Alameda.
Before I left for the States, each child nearly begged me to bring back books. Two of them had tears in their eyes, they really miss English books. So I did what any father would, while I was in town, I went to the Target and purchased $800 worth of books for my kids. That is about 140 pounds of books that I had to lug to the airport and through customs and in a taxi. I actually bought two large suitcases just for the books I brought back for them. It was exhausting but it will be worth it on Day 66 when they see what I brought. I also as a cautionary measure bought an entire box of Cadbury eggs, and if you’re wondering, I bough 40 Cadbury eggs. In case I can’t fly back before Easter. 😀
After I was dropped off at my home I put my bags down and then went to the office to work until 2am. Then I drove home, slept a little and went back to the office for a while. Court ended up getting cancelled, so it gave me more time to work on some cases that needed time. Throughout this very short visit I was monitoring both the American and Mexican border. My biggest fear was that either country would close the border while I was separated from my family.
I had a flight scheduled for Day 65, Friday. But on Day 64, I just didn’t feel right. I really feel like God was telling me to get up and take a flight out that evening and not to wait. So around the same time our State Department issued its highest warning for us not to travel, I bought a red eye leaving Thursday night instead of Friday afternoon.
It was nothing short of God. By the time my red eye touched down in Mexico, the US and Mexico jointly agreed to close its borders to tourists. There was a very strong chance if I just waited to leave Friday afternoon that I would be turned away at customs in Mexico and be separated from my family indefinitely. I am truly grateful to God for His urging and at the same time nearly terrified that if I wasn’t proactive that I would be living a nightmare right now.
Before my flight I was going back and forth in whether we should just all fly back. I think we are going to ride this out in Mexico. There are close to 200 cases in all of Mexico. And they have been testing heavily for it since January. They closed the kids school here a week before they closed our kids school district down in Alameda. They are more proactive here and aside from it being cheaper to live here as well, we have health insurance here and not in America. So worst case scenario, we won’t be bankrupt if we get sick here because we are highly covered. If we moved back to the state’s and got sick, it could lead to enormous medical bills. My business is being taken care of by God as well.
Unless the State Dept changes its tune on its travel advisory and its closure of its border, I will not be flying back for court. But in the past month I was introduced to a lawyer who can make all of my court appearances for me for the time being. It won’t be cheap but I’ll gladly pay it to give me peace of mind.
Now I’m with my family, we are safe. We are healthy, and will ride out this storm together. We have already spoken to the Stare Dept over the phone and they assured us if things started getting difficult here, there is nothing preventing us from coming home. Even if they close the borders, they won’t close it to its own citizens. It’s comforting knowing that even though we are in another country, our country will not close its doors to its citizens even during this pandemic. It reminds me of the phrase “civis Romanus sum” I am a Roman citizen. If you said that while traveling anywhere during the Roman Empire, you would be treated with respect or risk the full might of the empire as a consequence. I am not broadcasting that I’m American to anyone but being an American is comforting while living abroad during this pandemic.
Our Family Adventure 