History Essay： A Turning Point -Linda

                                                                    

                                                                      A Turning Point

       “Thanks to god for all the things that I have now in the U.S”. This was the phrase my father said all the time. My father always believed that he was a lucky man. In 1994, my father got the chance to work in the U.S, and this changed his entire life, and it has changed the life of our family. In the 1990s, in order to earn more money and have a better life, there was a wave of immigrants who went to the United States in search of employments. Because of the bankruptcy of the company where both my parents worked, it was a hard time for my family at that time. There was no doubt that it must be very hard for a foreigner to make a living in a totally strange country. However, there was nothing that could stop my dad at that time. The firm’s idea of success led my father to decide to go to the U.S. Eventually, he boarded an airplane and flew to the U.S with tears of family members and the best wishes of each of them. To my surprise, the opportunity to move to the U.S also become a turning point of my life. In general, my life became a lot better after my father started working at the U.S. However, the time for our family together was limited and rare. In addition, because of the lack of communication with my father, I lost some important parts of my childhood. 

       During the second year after my father left, my family bought a new apartment in the central area of city. At the time before my father went to the U.S, we lived in a small apartment because of the high price of real estate, just like the most average families that lived in the city, my parents could only afforded a tiny apartment with two small bedrooms in the area that was far away from their work and my school. I remembered how cold it was when I got up early in the winter mornings in order to catch the bus to school. However, everything changed after my father moved to the U.S. About ten years ago, the exchange rate between the U.S and China was 1:10, which was extremely high. The money that my father earned made our life better and better. The new apartment was a lot bigger than the one that we used to live. The most exciting thing for me was my school was just a few blocks away from my home, which mean I just needed a couple of minutes to walk to school. Fortunately, there was no early bird waiting for bus to school anymore.

       On the other hand, since my father made more money than before, our family spent less and less time together. I could only see my father once a year. In the first couple of years, the most exciting thing for my family was Spring Festival, because it was the time for my father to come back home. Every time he came back with variety gifts for each family member, and I was the one that always got the biggest gift from him. Even though there was not plenty of time for our family to get together, I was very pleased with it. At that time my father already filled out the immigration application to the United States Immigration Services for my mother and me. So I always told by my mother that we were going to live together with my father in the U.S in two years. Nevertheless, a terrorist attack destroyed everything. Not only did the September 11^th attack put the whole U.S into a panic, but also it became a nightmare for our family. Because of the attack, the United States Immigration Services set up the new rules that strictly limited for new immigrants. Before 911 happened, the maximum time to process of immigration application was about six months. However, in our case, it took about five years after our application was approved.  

                                      

       In general, five years was not that long if counting in the whole life of a person. However, these five years were considered the loss of the memorable childhood of a little girl. When my father left China to the U.S, I was only six years old. In my memory, my father never came to pick up me after school, attended a meeting with teacher, or watched the show of any celebration that was held by school that I performed in. Most of the time, my mother played the both important role which of father and mother at the same time in my childhood. My mother was the strongest woman that took all the responsibility of taking care of me. Though my mother took good care of me in every moment, I still felt I was alone. I missed my father every time I saw the smiling little girls who were about my age walking on the street, hand in hand with her father. I felt like I lost an important part of my life, which is fatherly companionship. Sometimes, I had many grumbles spoke to my father and I kept asking him about when my mother and I could go to the U.S with him on the phone. To my disappointment, the answers that I always got were ambiguous.

These days, I step on the land of the U.S together with my father, and became a U.S immigrant two years ago. Just like my father, I appreciated that I got a chance to live and to study in the U.S. I think the decision that my father made to came work at the U.S was totally correct. It was a turning point that has made many positive changes of my family.