Mariposa's Tales is hosting a new weekly meme, Tuesday's Tales! Though everyday here in the BLOGosphere is telling tales, Mariposa feels it would be nice to once in awhile sit back, enjoy good memories and enjoy it more by sharing those little love tales. After all happy times are best when shared with people! Tuesday's Tales is good way for us to get to know each other and share happy thoughts while making memories all at the same time.

Here we go. . .


For the first fifteen years that he lived in the U.S., the Amazing Egyptian Dude had no family here. Considering that he comes from a gigantic family and has more siblings than I have first cousins, I can only imagine how lonely it must have been for him. Once he became a citizen, we began the paperwork to bring his youngest brother and his family legally to the U.S.

Immigration, especially illegal immigration, is a huge political issue in America; it is a serious "hot button" issue in California, where we live. All I'm going to say about it is that after having gone through the legal channels for immigration, I understand why so many people are here without the necessary documentation! But back to my story.

It took 8 years before the in-laws received green cards (the legal alien documentation that grants an immigrant the right to be in the U.S. legally and to get a job) and came to the Golden State. When this family of four arrived, the youngest daughter, Basma, had just turned seven years old. She was a brat with a capital B! Spoiled beyond belief, Basma threw fits if she didn't get her way and used this tactic against her older sister on a regular basis. She drove me and my daughter crazy!

Somewhere along the way, though, the young girl whose life revolved around the drama and havoc she could create for her sister and cousin, changed. She became my shadow, my cat showing partner, my permanent weekend visitor, my surrogate daughter. I became her buddy, her advocate, her tutor, her teacher, her aunt.

Gone is the drama queen who loved nothing more than hogging the spotlight. The Brat has been replaced with a personable young lady who still needs tutoring for geometry (that's what is happening in the photo above), and has to repeat it this summer, but has finally learned to appreciate reading after constant urging from me and Iman (she is now a fan of the Twilight series). She may not spend every weekend with me now that she is entering her junior year in high school, but I'm still "cool" enough that she fits me into her busy teenage life often.

Watching Basma go from Brat to Beauty has been an amazing adventure, one that I wouldn't have missed for anything.