Reunited at last

When I started learning Spanish I was introduced to a woman from Mexico who was taking classes to get her citizenship. We became instant friends and have maintained our friendship ever since.

She had a son, but her ex-husband took their boy and hid with him in Mexico. For months prior to the kidnapping her mother-in-law told the boy things like: don't eat your mother's food; she will poison you or don't sleep at your mother's house; she will pluck your eyes out while your are sleeping. She had him afraid of his own mother. So when they took him away they justified it as rescuing him from the witch.

She tried to find her son, but was unable to do so for many years. He lived with his father's mother. The brain-washing witch.

After 16 years of heart break, she found her son and they have been emailing and talking on the phone for a month. He spent this weekend with her. He was 5 years old the last time she saw him and he is almost 21 now.

She has kept a diary ever since his dad took him. So Saturday night, her son read about everything that has happened from the moment he was stolen from her.

He realizes how his father and grandmother have lied to him about his mom and he wants to get to know her, to put the past behind them, and to go forward.

He looks like his dad, only taller, but he has his mother's personality. And he told his mom that he and his dad clashed a lot. He was probably a daily reminder of his mom, since he is so much like her.

My friend is so happy. Her sufferings have been washed away by the great joy of this reunion. She has forgiven those who robbed her of her son.

She is a bigger person than I am.