Visa Granted!

Once again the wise advice for bloggish subject matter has come from my beautiful fiancée! She thought it might be nice to inform everyone of the arduous and blood curdling process we have been through over the last 9 months to get to the point where I am legally allowed to remain in the United States of 'Murca. I have decided, for maximum impact, to tell the story via the perspective of an I-129F form, otherwise known as a Petition for Alien Immigration.

Extracts from the diaries of an I-129F Form
June 6th 2012:
"...I know little of my birth, nor where I came from. As is cultural in my domain, I was adorned with tattoos not long after I entered this world and these give indicative allusions as to my origins. I wound up here around 5 days ago, by imprinted reckoning, but I remember little of these early youthful days. I'm told by others that I was sent from the place of humans, but I still have yet to determine my purpose in this place, or indeed in this world. How long will I last? When will I serve my purpose? Who knows. Perhaps time will tell..."

June 14th 2012:
"...I have been here little over a week and the events in this place have been utterly mundane. There's a mixture of knowledge and experience here. I am surrounded by my kin, but all are shovelled through this confounding process; some knowing more about our life-cycle, and some being thrust into this life with no knowledge of how it is we came to be, why we are here, or where it is we are to be going. More come, some leave, but we do not know where and we do not know why..."

June 23rd 2012:
"...There are rumours spreading through the stacks that there is a place beyond here where we will move on to when our time comes. Some of the older of my kind say they have been waiting for a long time and they have seen many of us being taken to a better place. They say this place is full of purpose and happiness and that the intention we all have (of which we cannot figure out) will be realised and fulfilled. I hope for this future!"

July 16th 2012:
"...It has been a long time since I have considered myself in any form of self-reflexive manner. We have revelled in our despondency. They have given me a name. Gary. I don't like it. I have been in this one box for days, glumly staring through a small hole where the rays of the afternoon light glimpse through and remind me of the days when I had hope; when I believed that some day I would be reunited with my destiny and my purpose would be realised. But the light is just for a moment and then it dissolves into the acidic solution of regular mundanity. The hope that I had, flickers in me like the old, ignored television in a psychiatric ward. But it never dies completely..."

September 18th 2012:
"...The stacks of my kin have stirred. They have refused to accept the idea of anything beyond this place, I sometimes try and talk to them, but the hope within me is barely strong enough to maintain. The presence of this place and the nature of my surroundings have insisted I become content with transience. I have taken a fondness for liquid paper; I don't do too much of it, I just enjoy a good splash of it now and then. Sometimes me and the lads get together and have a few tabs of liquid paper together, play a few games, have some mad banter and then recoil into our boxes for recovery. It's a good laugh, and it takes the mind off this place..."

November 21st 2012:
"...There is no fulfilment here. I have betrayed my purpose, I have betrayed myself. I am caught in an endless cycle of emptiness. I cannot break free. My weakness keeps me here, but my hope will not let me go. My existence would be so much easier if I could simply relent to this nothingness and say 'good riddance' to the barmy notion that there is anything behind all this. That there is any purpose whatsoever. That I have any value, to anyone!"

December 9th 2013:
"...A hand reached down and pulled me out. This had happened to me once before when I was young, but this time it was different. It pulled me out of the place where I had been, it set me down gently and then it began writing on my heart. It stamped me with a mark that I instantly felt as hope and then when I had been good and dealt with, I was moved. I did not return to the place I had lingered longingly for days and months. I was placed somewhere new..."

December 31st 2013:
"...I have been waiting in this new place for a few weeks, but instead of the old, dying hope dwindling and flickering in the winds of this world, it's grown stronger every day. I do not always know why I'm here or where I am, or where I am going next, but I know that I am going somewhere soon and I will be completely fulfilled when I get there. Happiness and joy abound, and my solidarity grows with each passing second. I am surrounded by people just like me, who have hope, who know with assurance that there is a purpose and that there is someone out there who cares a great deal for them. Even though I have never met this person in the flesh, I know that I mean so much to them, they are written on my heart..."

January 5th 2013:
"...This morning I was moved again! I was placed in an aeroplane and flown across a last expanse of water to a new land. This place was filled with all types of my kind from all over the world. So many cultures and creeds and types of us all waiting in hope and anticipation. Each day I am collected together with more forms which give me greater insight into the person that sent me here. This afternoon I was examined by a human and they found me blameless and spotless. Through inspection and study, I have determined I will remain here with these other forms until I am united with the one who sent me here..."

February 20th 2013:
"...Today some more information came in about the one who sent me here. Apparently he is fit and well. I am unsure as to the significance of this...or why it cost him $600..."

March 25th 2013:
"It is finished! I am now with him who sent me! Along with my new friends passport and visa. I did nothing, he did it all and now I am with him and my purpose has been realised."

THE END