“Story of Immigrant Family”

Wow!
Time flies!!
It felt just like yesterday, the day we came to New York looking for a better and brighter future for our daughter Milly. I didn’t even realize that 13 years had passed.

When Milly was graduating yesterday from her high school, LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, I was brought back to that day when we came to New York from Nepal and started looking for a kindergarten class for Milly to join.

We arrived in the USA on July 18, 2005 with big dreams & hopes like other immigrants from around the world.

The day after we ( Milly and me) landed in the USA, I suffered extreme stomach pain and vomiting and so my husband & his friend took me to the hospital for an emergency. Unfortunately, I had to wait for 3 or 4 hours to see the doctor. I would never have even thought that in this developed country, emergency service would take such a long time. When I saw the doctor, my pain was almost gone and I poured my frustrations on to the doctor & his team. They just smiled. Nothing was diagnosed. Technically, they did nothing and we went back to our apartment.

July 23, we came to New York and again, I had same type of sever pain & vomiting a day after, and again was rushed for the emergency in Elmhurst hospital. The same story was repeated and I had to wait hours & hours. I couldn’t bare the pain anymore and I forced myself through the emergency door and went inside. My husband was trying to hold me back but I did not listen to him.

When I made it inside, I still had to wait hours to get treated. Finally my pain was diagnosed as of kidney stone of 6 m.m. and I was hospitalized for 2 days. The doctor inserted a Stent in my urine track to make it easier for the stone to come out. Due to that, my daily life became very irritating. Most of time, the blood used to come out with urine & every 5 minutes I felt like needing to use the restroom.
The doctor said they wanted to flush the stone naturally through urine, without surgery. I went through hell during that time.

My husband and daughter Milly were very supportive and caring. Meanwhile, we had to get Milly admission for kindergarten, and since we came to month of July, it was getting very hard because school’s admission forms were already closed. We would have to wait for September and I did not bring Milly’s immunization report from Nepal because I did not know any one in the US to whom I could have asked for advice. I got report from Nepal but there was no mentioned immunization date, and Milly had to go through all the immunization again. That was very painful, my poor Milly.

In September, Milly & me went to P.S.7 Elmhurst, they give me form and filled it out and I handed it over to the school with our store address. Honestly, I told the school official that it is our Business address and she said that it was O.K. and assured me Milly would get admission. We were very happy. The next day, we were told to visit the school and waited for a long time and said, Milly cannot get admission because of the address.

I tried to convince them that we don’t have our own apartment yet and are sharing an apartment with another family. She did not listen and denied our application. I told her “If you were going to reject our application, why did you accept us earlier and give us false hope? I already mentioned to you that this is our business address”. She did not have any answer for me. I requested to speak with the Principal, but she refused. I was so upset and frustrated, I tried to go in myself and that lady closed the door in our face.
That was my first time in my life someone closed the door on my face. When I recall that day 13 years after, my eyes still fill up with tears. I felt very insulted.

Milly & I came out from P.S. 7 that day with tears.
I felt like to going back to my own country, and didn’t feel like staying here for even a minute. Milly was holding my hand & looking at my face. Milly’s tiny fingers wiped my tears and said,” Momi, please don’t worry about my school. If I don’t get to go to school now, please buy me some books, I will study at home.” When one 5 year old child understood me and my feelings, that gave me hope. I could not hold myself and I held her tightly and cried. My tears are still dripping while I am writing this true story of my life after 13 years of my life. I hope, you can understand how I felt at that time.

Among my family & friends, I am known as a fighter, so I did not stop there from trying. The whole reason behind coming to stay in this country to live was so that our daughter Milly could have a bright future. We left our stablished luxurious life with our lovely family and friends and started all over again. We started from zero for opportunity,not to keep Milly at home for a year without sending her to school.

I was not working at that time and just helping my husband in his business.
I held Milly’s hand and went to P.S. 19, our zoned district school. I requested for her to be admitted there and they also refused, saying they have lot of students & have a long waiting list. I requested to speak to the Principal many times but they did not let me speak and did not help me to set an appointment. The receptionist kept saying the principal was “in a meeting”. When I was waiting to see principle, I met the school nurse and she saw my pain and said, “Your child seems very talented. Rather than waiting here, why don’t you try P.S. 89 ? That school is very good and they might take her.” She suggested that I go straight to the principal’s office through an appointment and explain the situation to them. I came back home with some hope and discussed with my husband, and asked him to go.

That same day, he went to P.S. 89 with Milly and as that nurse suggested, he got an appointment just two 2 days later. We were praying to God to get admission for Milly in P.S. 89, that was our first priority.

By the grace of God, Milly was interviewed with Principle Casiopo and other 4 Assistant Principals.

My husband called me from school to give me this good news, at that moment we were one of the most happiest parents in the world.
Since Milly got admission in P.S. 89 Q she was trying to get the best grades all the time and she did. She knew the value of school and the reason behind why we migrated from Nepal. We never told her to do her home work. She knew what she was doing.

She worked very hard to keep up her high grades. Teachers were very happy with her. During each & every parents-teacher meeting, we got to hear compliments about her. We received many letters from the Board of Education to change her school because of her high grade but we never thought about that because that was the school & principal who gave us hope for Milly.

As time passed, she graduated from P.S. 89Q in 2011 with the Valedictorian Award! That was amazing !!!
I could not hold my tears…….even her teachers from kindergarten cried. That was such a prideful moment for us. The first time I realized that how you feel about your children being a parents! Well, laughter & tears are part of life, aren’t they?
Coincidently & fortunately, in 2017 after 6 years, our son Anuj graduated from P.S.89Q with Valedictorian award too.

Yesterday, Milly graduated from “La gurdia performance High School” with honors !!!
To get this school, her journey was not that easy. First time she was not accepted. There were thousands of students who wanted to study there and it was a very tough competition. But Milly did not let it stop her. She tried again for 10th grade.
The day of audition and interview, she entered the school at 7 :00 A.M. and came out at 5:00 P.M. without lunch.

The whole day she was trying her best. Finally, the 2nd time she got admission. It’s funny how she thinks of me as her lucky charm. One day she said, “ Momi please stay with me for the audition & interview date, I truly believe this time I am going to get a spot “. I asked, “Why Chhori?” and she replied, “Momi, last year you were in Nepal on my audition day. This year you are with me physically.” I was speechless. The whole day, we were in school waiting for her.

For parents, what could be more important than seeing their children reach for their dreams and happiness?
We can not believe that Milly is 18 years old and going to college. We wish her a healthy and bright future, and successful life ahead!
We want to take a moment to thank our family & friends from bottom our hearts, for those who were always there for us through our up and downs & through thick and thin.
Wowwwwww !!!! Indeed, time flies !!!!! Right ?

Name: Laxmi Shrestha
From: Sundarijal, Kathmandu, Nepal
Now living in New York
Milly’s Highschool Graduation (06/23/2018)