I am STILL working on the novel-you thought I wasn’t didn’t you?! I’m back into it again, 40 pages and nearly 19,000 words done and so much to go. It’s hard doing the shadow writing-one entry of our love story, the next an original entry from the blog about Kevin’s illness. It stirs up many emotions. I wanted to share with you a very rough draft of one of the love story entries:
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I was beyond frustrated. How could a Canadian wanting to live in the United States, have this much difficulty moving here? I had so many unanswered questions, and the question that I did have answers for, I had three different answers. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services was ridiculous with their lackluster customer service, and bills were quickly piling up for fees for paperwork. I was excitedly working ahead to get Kevin his K-1 fiancé visa so we could get married by the fall, and nothing was going smoothly.
Kevin lived just one hour north of the U.S-Canadian border, and yet, they were requiring us to submit proof of relationship such as pictures, phone records, letters, and anything that would show we were “in love” on paper. Anyone who knew us sensed our deep commitment to one another and there was no question we were marrying for love.
As I prepared the packet to send to U.S. Immigration services it gave me a great moment to reflect upon our short, but deeply passionate love affair. We had traveled, explored, and felt every moment together. The whole time we had dated, we had only met a handful of times, yet I knew him deeper than anyone else in my life. There was a bond that was not to be broken by miles or immigration or truly anything. I got to read his love letters to me again, cherishing that he was absolutely my soul mate, the fit that I was lacking and a completion to something I never knew I needed.
Having to prove your love to a government organization can seem very sterile-laying out the pieces for how you met, the moments that you felt like you were falling in love, the way in which you built up your relationship to the point where you were ready to be wed. Sterile on paper listing the facts, but far from that in reality. Kevin was the messiest, most perfect part of my life-unexpected, breathtaking, awestruck in every moment he captured my heart. So I filled out the forms, and mailed off the ‘evidence’ of true love to the government. Because what is more romantic than the government analyzing your every kiss?
Novel Excerpt
Brenda Sieglitz
Brenda Lee Sieglitz is an author and public speaker whose topics focus on travel, grief, and nature. Widowed in 2008 at 24 years of age, Brenda is an advocate for sarcoma patients, the widowed community, and conservation through her volunteerism with the National Park Service, Lancaster County Conservancy, Pennsylvania Master Naturalist, Hospice of Lancaster County, Soaring Spirits International, Angiosarcoma Awareness and Highmark Caring Place.
Brenda won the 2009 Associated Content “Content of the Year” award, and in 2011 was named one of Wyndham Women’s “Women on their Way”. Most recently her love and loss memoir, Ebb from the Shoreline, won 1st Place Editor’s Choice in Nonfiction at the 2014 North American Book Awards. Sieglitz holds a degree in business and became a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist in 2015.
In her spare time, she adores playing with her two nieces, going on family adventures with her husband, stepdaughter and son-in-law, hiking, camping and is working to complete her bucket list dream of visiting all National Park units.
Sieglitz has been married to her best friend Dave since 2013 and continues to reside in Lancaster County with their two beagles Scotch and Fina.
Fascinating because I did this in reverse and found exactly the same thing. Canadian immigration was not to forthcoming on info and that having to prove love on paper wasn’t as easy as it sounded.