Slice of my life

My story. I can tell you now that it didn't start off all that interesting, even now I'm sure some wont think it is, but I like writting and I think I want to share it with someone, or at least whoever is willing to listen. I intend for this story to be entirely non fiction, tell it like it is kinda thing only I will be changing names and places for privacy. (Also on a side note you'll have to excuse any typos or words missing spaces, my laptop needs replacing as it's old and a little broken).

I was born in 1999 Australia, the first child my parents had. Obviously I don't remember a lot from back then, just a few things like looking up at the straw ceiling which years later actually caught fire (a couple months after we had moved out due to some wiring issues). Because I don't remember too much I'll take a moment to describe my parents. My dad worked in Human recources but not with people, he was more of the tech type and worked with speadsheets and systems. One of the nicest people I have ever had the privilage of knowing, the kind of man who would stop to talk to the people selling things in the middle of the shopping center (mall) or talk to the homeless and give them any change he had. As far back as I can remember he was always smiling and looking out for others. My mum worked in the city at that point although I don't remember what she did but she went on to be a receptionist later. She was a little sterner than my dad, a little more analitic and calculated but I know looking back on it that everything she did and anything that had come across as "cold" at the time was only to look out for our family.

2003 my brother was born, we're gonna call him Luke. Now it's often said that the second child is the favorite and I can agree with this. I wasnt unloved, definetly not and I can tell you right now we were a good middle classed family, I can't ever remeber a time when we were struggling or hurting for money (I am fairly sure this is due to my mum's budgeting). This however didn't mean we were spoilt, as there should be there were limits to things our parents bought us and if we really wanted something we often had to wait for christmas or a birthday, random presents were unheard of and for this I am glad, it taught me patience and probably saved our family a lot of money too.

When I was old enough to go to school my parents decided on the local catholic school (this is kinda important), I spent my first 6 years (R-5) of schooling attending mass on wednesdays with prayer on most mornings. I loved school and I was really enjoying the religion side of things too, it was about year 4 my friends had started having their 1st communion, we had a woman come in and speak to us about it and how it's a part of the faith and was important to connect with God (she did also mention not nessecary but I was still interested). I went home to my parents to ask them if I could go for my 1st communion like my friends were but it was then I found out that they werent actually catholic or religious at all. You might not think this is a big deal, to some people it's not, but it brought up some serious questions for me. Needless to say they said no, and I never ended up getting my 1st communion, I actually got teased for it in year 5. It was a silly thing but I think that's where my disconnect from that religion started, being told by adults I'm suppose to follow Jesus, my parents saying it doesnt matter and then the kids I was around every day telling me I didnt fit in because I couldnt eat some stale church bread.

After I graduated from that school I spent 4 years at another Catholic school, this time however, an all girls school. Something about not being around boys during puberty was suppose to help my learning, the learning wasnt a problem, making new friends however was. At my old school I had played mostly with boys, the girls never seemed to have room for me in their games but could fit 3 more of their friends, either way, the first year of that school was hard. The next year I managed to make a friend who to this day is still one of my closest friends who I wouldnt trade for the world, Kristy. During the rest of my time at that school I had found I had a talent for music so I started playing a couple instruments and took singing lessons, classical singing lessons because being the girl with one friend wasnt weird enough, Joke was on them though when I sang at our graduation. Now as is normal with kids going through puberty I started feeling like I wanted a relationship, only there were no boys at our school, on weekends I played sport and afterschool I got picked up by mum so I didnt really meet any in that time. I didnt have a cellphone either (shocker right? a 14yr old girl without a phone) so I didnt have any contacts from my previous school. Well turns out Kristy was thinking the same thing as I was and for 3 months we became a thing. I dont remember what broke it off but I know it wasnt too bad as prementioned we're still pretty close today.

Senior school, Catholic, this was hell on earth for me. By this point I was sick of the Catholic religion, I wanted nothing to do with it, as had started to feel less like an option to me and more like I was being forced to follow it. However, I was absolutely blessed with a homeroom teacher who understood it wasnt for everyone. She was Catholic herself but not like any I'd seen before, while she asked we do pray in the morning and attend the compulsory masses instead of skipping she said we could use that time to just sit in silence and reflect on whatever we did believe in instead. I didnt belive in angels, but if I did she would be one. Shortly into year 10 Kristy introduced me to the Pagan religions which I instantly clicked with. For me, it just felt right, it made sense. I know it's not for everyone however and wont touch on it more that that. I had my first real boyfriend in this time, James, 11 months, took my virginity by force and I never said a word until years later. I broke it off with him over text (I know, I'm pretty ashamed with the way I handled that one) but then started dating a guy named Will, online. The online part is important. Will and I dated on and off from the start of year 11 until I graduated my senior year. By the time I did graduate I had no idea what I was going to do with my life, however I did have a friend in America who I'd been wanting to meet for a while now, Connor.

Febuary 2018 I went to visit Connor in America where I stayed with him for about 3 months, and fell completely and totally in love much to my families distain. A little background on Connor, at the time he was married but living seperately from his cheating and mentally abusive wife, when I had met him he was still living with her and I was with Will, it was just a friendship as I was looking for some religious guidance and there wasnt really anyone where I was from I could turn to. I'm not happy about it, but I watched their relationship unfold fromthe other side of the screen, I saw how she mistreated him and eventually I saw her leave with most of his belongings. Now to clear the air, I left Will due to some religious differences, I dont think a relationship with a "no religion talk" rule is really sustainable. Back to the point at hand, in my visit to meet Connor we ended up growing pretty close until a relationship really blossomed between us. Leaving was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to do and once I got back to Australia I got a job and saved so I could see him again. We kept in contact via Facebook messenger video calls every single day. He would call me when he got up and I would do the same after I slept. For those who dont know, the time gap between Australia and America can range between 14 and 16 hours depending on the daylight cycle. it wasnt always easy but November 2018 he proposed to me and thats how at 19 I ended up engaged.

Originally there was debate about who would move where but in the end we decided I would move to him as he had a house already set up and his family was larger than mine and it would be more expensive for them to travel if they wanted to visit (My family consists of 4 including me, his holds 8). So we started the LONG visa process. If you ever want to test if your relationship is going to make it try not seeing your loved one in person for 2 years. It wasnt easy and it really tested our patience with eachother but right before the visa was approved he came down to Australia to see me and finally meet my parents in person. He was only down for a week and a half in december 2019 but he and I had a good time getting to show him where I grew up, he might of got a bit sick of me showing him off like a show pony but I didnt care, I was just glad to have him back. He left back for America, he couldnt take any longer off from work to visit. March 2020 my Visa got approved. Yep. Right as Covid-19 started shutting down boarders. It was not good timing, we'd been waiting over a year for the visa to be done so we could finally be together and then Covid happened. We had to make a decision and fast, I had booked flights for April a week before the anoucement but at the rate the boarders were closing my flights would be cancelled. For those unaware, a K-1 Visa has a 90 day limit for you to get married and apply for a greencard and mine expired in September. I knew Covid wouldnt be over by then and if the visa expired I would need to renew it which would entail me flying over to another state again as my state doesnt process the visas or medical exams that go along with it. In the end we both said screw it. I had roughly $2000 saved for when I got to America but I had to spend it on a new plane ticket. The prices had skyrocketed and I had been trying for 5 days to get a hold of the airline to cancel my first ticket so I could get the refund. When I say I tried I mean I was on the phone from when the line opened to when it closed and their webchat. I got through once, and they hung up on me before I could say "hi". I never ended up getting that refund from them, but I did end up in America with Connor. Keep in mind this is when we thought Covid was killing people of all ages at the same rates and that if you got Covid you were just going to die, we thought that if one of us had got it we would rather be together than apart.

April 25th we got married by a friend who was licenced after some problems with the town hall not letting us in and making us wait 2 weeks we didnt really have. Despite this, we managed to get my greencard application out and processed within the time limit and were both happy and Covid free. Until Connor left his job due to them skimming money off his pay without telling him. He found another pretty quick which lasted until July, until they let him go because they were cutting numbers. We're struggling to keep our head above the water right now but we will pull through. Times arent easy right now, things are hard and often he asks me if I'm going to leave him because of this but I wont. I refuse to.

Love isnt easy. It never is, but if something like this is possible for me then it's possible for anyone. Love means work, it's not all a walk in the park, it's work, it's differences in opinion, it's defying expectaions and limits. We are survivors, and we will continue to survive as long as we can.

DON'T GIVE UP. BE STRONG. YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS.