Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be separated from your parents for years and then suddenly reunited in a different country? My name is KW, and I immigrated to the US 8 years ago. Talking about 17 years ago, as I saw my mother packing things up in her luggage, I thought she was going on a trip with our family. As she kept talking about leaving Burma, I thought she was joking. In fact, she never wanted to leave me and my little sister in our grandparents’ hands as she did not want to give them extra responsibility. Back in 2008, the US economy crashed significantly and mostly affected the housing and financial crisis. For that reason, without also being familiar with a completely new country that they had never been to, they decided to not take the risk, but instead decided to temporarily leave me and my little sister in Burma. They promised they would come back to take us with them, and soon be reunited. Even though I knew their plan,  I remember the feeling of my tears falling off of my eyes as I left the airport. After they moved to the US, and as I grew older, I started to learn and understand more new things. Talking with them on video calls always helped. They did visit us a few times, checking on us how we were doing. After 7 years, they returned to bring us with them, and we were officially reunited in the US. As I took my first step at the US airport, my father asked “So what is your American dream?”.

– KW

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant