A complete change of pace
Mar. 20th, 2004 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hel_anaThe Dutch Queen Mother, Juliana, died this morning of a lung infection. She was 94.
My family, while not being very Dutch (though my sister in law is, and being complete mongrels, there's a certain amount of it in my family tree), has always had an affinity for the Netherlands.
My grandfather served there during the war, and maintained many of the friendships he'd made there till he died. My Grandmother still maintains some of those friendships and the affection that both my grandparents had for the country made a deep impression on me. They visited the Netherlands frequently.
Juliana, along with the rest of the Dutch Royal Family, spent WWII in Canada. In fact, there is a small piece of the Netherlands in Ottawa. Juliana was Crown Princess during the war, and was also pregnant with her first child, the current Queen, Beatrix. However, Dutch law states that the heir to the throne must be born in the Netherlands. Since it was under occupation, that really wasn't possible, so the Canadian parliament ceded the grounds of the home they were staying at in Ottawa to the Netherlands. Thus, Beatrix was born in Ottawa, The Netherlands.
By all accounts, she was a tremendously popular queen, in no small part because of the work she did on behalf of her people in the reconstruction after the war. She stepped down in 1980, believing that the younger Beatrix could do the job better.
I bring this to your attention not only because it touched me, but also because this woman, and others like her, are part of the reason that generation has been called the greatest. I remind myself of the grace and spirit of the people who lived through the depression, the war that followed it, and who went on to rebuild a shattered world. They met the challenge head on, and when you talk to them, it becomes obvious that they also met it with a minimum of hand-wringing.
So, to Juliana, I wish you well on your way, and the rest that you did not take in life.
My family, while not being very Dutch (though my sister in law is, and being complete mongrels, there's a certain amount of it in my family tree), has always had an affinity for the Netherlands.
My grandfather served there during the war, and maintained many of the friendships he'd made there till he died. My Grandmother still maintains some of those friendships and the affection that both my grandparents had for the country made a deep impression on me. They visited the Netherlands frequently.
Juliana, along with the rest of the Dutch Royal Family, spent WWII in Canada. In fact, there is a small piece of the Netherlands in Ottawa. Juliana was Crown Princess during the war, and was also pregnant with her first child, the current Queen, Beatrix. However, Dutch law states that the heir to the throne must be born in the Netherlands. Since it was under occupation, that really wasn't possible, so the Canadian parliament ceded the grounds of the home they were staying at in Ottawa to the Netherlands. Thus, Beatrix was born in Ottawa, The Netherlands.
By all accounts, she was a tremendously popular queen, in no small part because of the work she did on behalf of her people in the reconstruction after the war. She stepped down in 1980, believing that the younger Beatrix could do the job better.
I bring this to your attention not only because it touched me, but also because this woman, and others like her, are part of the reason that generation has been called the greatest. I remind myself of the grace and spirit of the people who lived through the depression, the war that followed it, and who went on to rebuild a shattered world. They met the challenge head on, and when you talk to them, it becomes obvious that they also met it with a minimum of hand-wringing.
So, to Juliana, I wish you well on your way, and the rest that you did not take in life.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-20 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-20 04:20 pm (UTC)Wilhelmine Marie Sophie Louise (1824-1897), a princess of the Royal house
and
Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Marie (31/8/1880 - 28/11/1962), Queen of The Netherlands 1890-1948 (abdicated)
Wilhelmina is the grandmother of the current queen Beatrix and the mother of Juliana, the lady who just died. Now, I do know that Juliana was Wilhelmina's only child.
As it turns out, while looking this up, I found out I was wrong. It was not Queen Beatrix that was born in Ottawa, but her younger sister Margriet.
hi :)
Date: 2004-03-20 06:51 pm (UTC)I'm in that process too and wanted to know if you're still waiting or if you are in the us already?
This whole thing brings me down sometimes and it's nice to talk to people who are in my same situation.
Anyway, my name is Dayna, I'm 20 and Mexican :)
Re: hi :)
Date: 2004-03-20 07:56 pm (UTC)I met my husband online in July of 2001. We met in person in October, and dated long distance until June of 2003. I went down for a three month long visit, and came back in September of 2001.
We filed for a fiance visa in February of 2003, and were facing a huge backlog. At the time, the I-130/K3 process was going much faster, so we married in New York in June of 2003, and I came back here to wait, while he filed the I-130 and K3. It was approved in November, and I had my interview at the consulate in February.
Re: hi :)
Date: 2004-03-20 09:27 pm (UTC)Here's my story. I also met my husband online, back in dec 2000. I met him in person july 2001. stayed in the us for 6 months, came back for a month, went back a 2nd time for 5 months, came back 2 months, went back a 3rd time and we got married nov 2002. Then we were going to file for my green card but I wanted to come see my family before we did that and we wanted to get married here so that my friends and family could be there because none of them could go to our wedding in the us. We called the INS and were told I could do that and go back on a tourist visa. LIE!
He came down in june, we got married (on the 6th) and then went back on the 11th. We were stopped at the airport, I was sent to a room where they asked me a bunch of quesitons and told me I couldn't go back on a tourist visa. Long story short, I had to buy another ticket to come back and our nightmare began. I was put in jail for 6 hours (the airport's jail) with another woman from chile.
My husband went back to Boston and as soon as he got everything squared away, he filed for my i-130 (augu 26) and got the receipt for the K3 a week later and sent it. It's been a little under 200 days and we haven't heard from the consulate :(
So, we've been apart for a whole year, have seen each other only 28 days total. I can't go see him because they took my tourist visa.
He can't come see me often because it's not so cheap and because he only works pt (and not even, he lost his ft job in dec (store closed) and works a couple of nights a week at a bar) and has to pay child support and all that.
It is VERY hard. I sometimes feel like I'll never get the phone call from the consulate because I'm
Re: hi :)
Date: 2004-03-20 10:46 pm (UTC)Did you know that if you have the MSC # (the number on the receipt from the K3) you can go here:
CIS Case Status online
to find out whether the petition for the K3 has been approved?
In fact, you can put the number from the I-130 receipt (you filed that through the Vermont Service Center, right? so it should start with a VSC, I think) into that, and it'll tell you whether the I-130 has been approved.
If you filed the I-130 at Vermont, you have a few months to wait on that. They're currently processing cases filed on or before May 1, 03.
The MSC, is currently processing K3 cases recieved on or before December 24, 2003.
I do have one question.. if your husband is only employed part-time, how is he going to meet the sponsorship guidelines for the K3 visa?
Shoot me an email at heltownsend at hotmail dot com and I'd be happy to answer any questions or give you any information I have about the consulate stage (papers you should be collecting, how it works, etc)
Re: hi :)
Date: 2004-03-20 10:54 pm (UTC)yahoo (dayna089)
aim`(daynapanda)
I'd love to chat with you about this.