Meet you at the finish line

Photo By Staff Sgt. Maricris McLane | Sgt. Maricris McLane takes a "selfie" with her son, Jandrei Cosejo, in the Philippines Aug. 9, 2009. This photo was taken prior to McLane's migration to the U.S. (Courtesy photo)  

EL PASO, TX, UNITED STATES

12.07.2015

Story by Sgt. Maricris McLane 

24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

EL PASO, Texas - As a Soldier, I gave up a lot of things. I sacrificed more than I wanted to give up. One of these sacrifices was being away from my son.

I’m a mother of a wonderful 7-year-old boy. But I’ve been away from him for the past six years. My son’s name is Jandrei, I call him Drei. He’s very talented. He likes music. I used to play music to my stomach while I was pregnant with him. He is the best gift I’ve ever received my entire life. But I already missed six years of his life.

As a Soldier, I thought the only time I would be away from my child is because of deployment. I’ve been in the Army for the past five years, during those five years I’ve never been deployed. I have no idea what it’s like to deploy, but I know what it’s like to be away from my son.

I’m just a mother who willingly sacrificed six years away from her child in the hopes of finding a better life for him in the U.S. I intended to set a very bright future for him as an American.

I left my son in the Philippines when he was 1. I moved to the U.S. with my parents hoping that my son would be able to follow me here within the year.

I wasn't a U.S. citizen when I came here, nor was my son. I knew joining the Army was the quickest way to become a citizen. It was the fastest way possible to migrate my son.

But that’s just what I thought.

Migrating a foreign child is a complicated process, even for a U.S. citizen. Despite my citizenship, Drei will still endure a tedious, time-consuming, immigration process.

I completely understand why there’s roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The legal process is too much work and too much time when you can just cross a border and stay here. But morally speaking, I did the right thing. I started the process to legally bring my son into the U.S. as soon as I could.

I barely knew anything about the process and just took it one step at a time. From the applications, reviews, background checks, all the way to a variety of approvals. It took over three years before I even received a letter saying my son’s immigration is pending medical examinations and a final interview with an immigration officer at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines.

I said to myself, “this is it.”

I was confident that my son is healthy and the medical examination was going to be a quick and easy process.

But I was wrong, it took almost two years for the results of the medical exams to come out. The doctors diagnosed my son with a type of tuberculosis infection called primary lung complex. This illness requires a minimum of six months of continuous treatment before another test is taken to see progress or if the infection is cured.

I thought all I needed to do was buy a plane ticket and he’ll be here. I was surely mistaken, and my son is still away from me after six long years of waiting.

I compare this process to the Army two-mile run. I start with the mindset, two miles is not too far, but as I get closer to the finish, it just gets harder. I lose my patience and give in to exhaustion. My pace breaks down and I run slower. The finish line becomes farther than it was two miles ago at the starting line.

As a Soldier, we are trained to go the distance. We keep pushing and giving everything we have to run as far as we can. The farther we run, the stronger we get. In the end, we always finish stronger than ever.

As a mother, my son and I will finish this run. The thousands of miles between us makes my heart a thousand times stronger. The time away drives us to see each other again, more and more. I’ve done everything I can to bring my son to me. I did everything legally and morally right. The end is getting closer, soon enough our paths from opposite sides of the globe will meet right on the finish line.

• Date Taken: 12.07.2015
• Date Posted: 12.08.2015 15:49
• Story ID: 183872
• Location: EL PASO, TX, US
• Hometown: MANILA, PH
• Hometown: QUEZON CITY, PH