They came here with a dream!

It was like watching a movie only this was real life. When I looked out my office window I saw a young woman laying face down in the parking lot. She had been the driver of the van, but was now handcuffed with a border patrol officer standing nearby. One of the many officers was taking photographs in and around a white van, which had two border patrol vehicles parked behind it and several others nearby. By the look of it the van had ended up here after being followed or perhaps chased into our parking lot. The border patrol vehicles still had their emergency lights flashing.

Soon after the photographs were taken the agents began to escort people one by one from the van; fourteen in all! Two of them were children; a young girl and boy and also a teenage girl. They were with a young woman who may have been their mother. The rest of the detainees were young men. They all looked like they were from the central part of Mexico. Twigs and bits of plant material on their clothing indicated that they had likely spent at least one night sleeping outside. They all looked scared, but particularly the children who were sobbing as the young mother tried to console them. The woman and children were separated from the men and sat in the parking lot. A shawl was draped over the children's faces shielding them not only from the hot sun, but from the sight of their companions being patted down and searched. Some of them had blankets in their backpacks, so perhaps they had been prepared for the cold desert nights. Next they were put in the border patrol trucks; men in one and the woman and children in another. The driver of the white van was put in an unmarked SUV and soon after they all drove away.

Where had these people come from and where were they going? Even although they came here illegally, it was so sad to see where they ended up. Most certainly each of them had a story and that story ended in a dream shattered. Perhaps the young mother was supposed to meet up with the father of her children. Perhaps another had a sick family member on this side of the border and they just needed to get to them before it was too late. Maybe they had all travelled for days and were hungry and tired

I am sure that whatever the circumstance they all had paid a great price; monetarily, physically and emotionally. I can't help but think of those young children with tears in their eyes. Do they even know that they were victims of human trafficking; the "Coyotes"? What will become of these people as they are released into Tijuana with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.? How will they get home or will they? And what about the driver who looked like a young mother herself? How did she come to be here? Was it motivated by greed or does she have a habit? Maybe she was at the point of losing her home like so many people in this area and thought she could make a quick buck.

We will never know the answers to theses questions, but I know that they all came here with a dream to leave what they had behind and risk everything for a chance at a brighter future. As I sit on my ever so comfy sofa tonight I think of not just these people, but all of the people who everyday risk it all to come to America, "land of the free". Tonight I am especially grateful for the wonderful life I have.

Yes, it was like watching a movie, but a movie with a very sad ending!


People emerging from the van.


The driver . . . yes, it's a woman!


A young mother, two small children and a
teenage girl sit patiently on the pavement.


The Border Patrol loading the van with the detainees.

New York, New York

It had been a couple of years since we had had a family vacation and what a vacation this was. We flew almost 6 hours to get to the Big Apple. We arrived in the late afternoon and before we knew it the airport taxi was taking us through Times Square. It was sensory overload (in a good way) of people, sights and lights. We just passed through the bustling area and got a taste of it, but the excitement left us wanting more. It was July 4th, 2008 and there would be no fireworks for us due to the low cloud cover and rainfall, but that did not put a damper on our excitement.

For the next few days we were typical tourists, fortunately we hooked up with a Gray Line 72 hours "Hop on Hop Off" tour. It was a perfect way to see this spectacular city as we could spend as much time in any one area as we liked and when ready to move on another bus would come along and take us to the next place of interest. Some of the places we saw were:

The Empire State building
Ground Zero (WTC)
The Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Times Square
Herald Square
The Theater District
China Town
The Plaza Hotel
Radio City
Lots of Yellow Taxis
Wall Street
Juniors

Yes, we packed a lot into those few days including seeing the Broadway play "Chicago", taking a stroll through Central Park and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Speaking of bridges, our tour guide told us an easy way to remember the name of the three bridges. He said to think BMW: Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg.

On the Monday, we rented a small SUV and headed south out of town. Our destination was Washington, DC however we had a stop over in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to check out the Liberty Bell and Liberty Square, where Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence.

Shortly after leaving Philly, we saw a road sign that read "Johns Hopkins" and with two lacrosse players in the car we decided that we could not pass up the opportunity to visit this famous lacrosse school, so we pulled in for the evening and headed to Johns Hopkins the next morning. Not only did we get to see a great school, but we also came upon the U.S. Lacrosse Association Head Quarters, which had an interesting lacrosse museum that we spent some time in.

Washington, DC was our next stop where we saw the White House, the Washington Monument, the Capital Building, the World War Two Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial was the most spectacular as we were able to stand on the exact spot as Martin Luther King did when he delivered his famous speech. Also from that exact spot you can see the fountain, War Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Capital Building. We drove completely around the Pentagon and managed to see the wall that was affected by 9-11 before heading out of town.

Dartmouth in Hanover, NH was our next destination, but we had a stop over in New Haven, Connecticut to tour Yale. The presentation at the historic university was so compelling that not only Alex, but all of us were ready to apply. We really were impressed with the organization and tradition offered here. Dartmouth was also impressive! Established in 1762, the town of Hanover is built around the college. We noticed that even a lot of the houses were painted in the school colors of white and green. Hanover reminded us a lot of Canada with its fresh air, greenery and we loved the quaintness of this small town.

Watching Alex play lacrosse was a big plus as the level of play at this Elite camp was above anything we had ever seen. We were impressed with how clean cut and tidy the boys were. There we no tats or piercings here. The fact that he got to stay in the college dorm was another plus as he got to have the college experience so to speak.

Boston was our next stop. Unfortunately, we did not make a connection with this city. Maybe by this stage of the trip we just had had enough, but things just did not click for us here. We drove around and saw the sights then unanimously decided to head back to NY.

Arriving back in NY we once again were drawn to Times Square. We really wanted to go to the Empire State Building as when we were in New York at the beginning of the trip, we had light rain and clouds, so we were unable to go to the top. The Empire State Building is once again the tallest building in NY after 9-11 destroyed the twin towers. Our timing was perfectthis time around as when we began the assent it was daylight, but the sunset while on the 86th floor, so we were able to see the spectacular sights of NY city at night. It was a sight to remember for the rest of our lives!

We had completed 10 days of exquisite family time and all too soon we were on our way home. We had made wonderful memories of a carefree time in our lives when we were blessed with health, happiness and a love of each other.

A Boy after my own heart

My baby boy was going to high school. It was his first day and I could hardly wait to find out how it went and when the after school phone call never came, I called our older son, a senior at the same school to find out what was up. Much to my horror, he told me that the school was under "lockdown". The phone calls between parents began and we tried to figure out what was going on inside the school. The kids had no information other than that they were not able to leave their classrooms. We found out that there were about 10 police cars surrounding the school, helicopters in the sky and the police were seen by students with their guns pulled moving around outside the classrooms. As it turns out, there was no danger and the students were able to leave the campus about 1-1/2 hours after school normally gets out. This hour and a half was very tense for me as I was at work and could only get information from my computer and other parents. I couldn't wait to get home to comfort my young son. I was worried about the trauma he might have suffered and approached the "lockdown" subject with caution. I asked him how he felt being kept in the classroom and if he was worried. He replied that he was worried. I was happy that he was able to open up and talk about the situation, so I probed and asked him what he was worried about. He replied that he was worried about when he would get to eat next! Yes, that's right, he was worried about his next meal. Yep, he's my son, a boy after my own heart!