It’s true that House Crazy Sarah is a Canadian immigrant living in the United States. In 2002, she went on “vacation” down to Colorado to visit a dude she met on the internet. They quickly got married and she ended up staying.
Forthright people sometimes ask House Crazy Sarah:
But you’re here legally, right?
Yes, let us put those minds at ease and confirm that, here and now, House Crazy Sarah has legal status as a permanent resident in the United States of America. But she started out not being exactly “legal”. Not that any human being is ever illegal. Soapbox aside, it turns out you can’t just go on vacation in the United States and decide to live there. Unless you are applying for refugee status, but that’s hardly likely in House Crazy Sarah’s case since she hails from Canada. (What would she be refuging from? Winter? Too much free healthcare?)
Thus, she was faced with two options: go back to boring old snowy Canada, or stay in the exciting United States, in Colorado – where there’s waaaay less winter than in Canada! And House Crazy Sarah HATES winter.
The only problem was that the guy she met on the internet was actually not a US citizen either. He was born in Mexico. He had to hurry up and get his US citizenship so that when he married House Crazy Sarah, she could be legal. It was all kind of iffy, and they eventually divorced, but that was 12 years and 2 kids later, so it’s all good.
House Crazy Sarah has lived in the United States for seventeen years now and, if asked, would have to admit that she still feels like an outsider. Which is okay, because she likes living life on the margins. As an immigrant, you will always be from somewhere else and never quite get all the jokes. No matter, because the locals won’t get all your jokes. You long to be with your former countrymen at special times, like when Canada beats the US in the winter Olympics, or just to have some real poutine at McDonald’s.
House Crazy Sarah’s acquaintances here laugh because she looks like them, and talks like them (for the most part), but she still has to report her whereabouts to the federal government and show her “papers” for employment, taxes, or even buying a house. Which hasn’t stopped silly Sarah from buying more houses than most Americans.
All in all, she likes the novelty of being a Canadian in America. What other country can have so many laughs at its expense?
Hey Sarah, what’s the national animal of Canada?
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My favorite immigrant:) I sure love reading your stories and am glad you’re back to writing a blog 🙂
Awe shucks 🙂