[Shakey]

He hit the Mexican lottery.

[DiamondSmiles]

Many thanks to IC10021 for locating my original post

Just one big, happy, dysfunctional family here :)

Reuters

By Marty Graham

November 24, 2013

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A Chicago-born man, who went missing three decades ago as a toddler after his father took him to Mexico, has been reunited with his U.S. mother in California after a harrowing trek back to the United States.

David Amaya Barrick, now 37, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents last month but freed after convincing authorities of his U.S. citizenship - only to vanish again for several days before turning up at a San Diego church.

The mother and son finally met each other this weekend for the first time since the son went missing in 1979, to find they have the same eyes and nose, share the same laugh, and both love plaid shirts - even if they no longer have a language in common.

"We have some catching up to do," Kathy Amaya, 60, told Reuters on Sunday through tears a day after the pair finally met face to face at the San Diego International Airport after she flew in from Wisconsin. "We're going to do that."

The Border Patrol said Barrick was taken from Chicago by his father in 1979 and brought to Mexico, where he was left with his paternal grandparents, speaking only Spanish.

He later trained as a percussionist and moved to Monterrey, where he built a career playing in Norteno bands. He married and had two children, but, the marriage didn't work out.

Earlier this month, he illegally crossed into California from Mexico with undocumented immigrants and was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol about a mile east of the Pacific Ocean. At first, he said he was Mexican, then remembered that his grandparents told him he was born in a Chicago hospital.

He also told the border agents he had been beaten and robbed of his money, cell phone and Mexican identification before entering the United States.

The agents checked out his story and were able to locate his birth certificate and his mother - putting the two in touch over the phone in an emotional long-distance call. Because Barrick speaks only Spanish, agents acted as translators.

"It was very emotional," supervisory agent Troy Matthews said. "He told her he grew up being told she abandoned him and she started crying that she was afraid they told him that and how she never stopped wanting to find him."

On Tuesday, Amaya will fly to Wisconsin with her firstborn son, where he'll meet her four other grown children, three brothers and a sister.

"We'll spend Thanksgiving with so much to give thanks for," Amaya said. "It's really overwhelming, sometimes it feels like my heart will burst."

Both mother and son acknowledge they have much to do to rebuild their relationship, starting with finding a common language. But Amaya pointed at Barrick's plaid shirt, and then her own, and they both laughed the same laugh.

"We are the same blood," Amaya said. "We can figure out the rest."

View gallery here:
http://news.yahoo.com/long-missing-m...202954753.html

Photos

David Amaya and his mother, Kathy Amaya, listen to a service at Iglesia de Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final in San Diego.

David Amaya and his mother Kathy Amaya talk to each other through translator Juan Soto (L) at the church.

[Megamel29]

She looks like she has ptosis.

Anyway great reunion! I hope they can keep in touch now. I forget if the article said his father died?

[IC10021]

the son has his mother's eyes

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by Megamel29 ↗

She looks like she has ptosis.

Anyway great reunion! I hope they can keep in touch now. I forget if the article said his father died?

The sperm donor left him with his paternal grandparents and never saw him all those years

I'm glad they finally got to meet.

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by IC10021 ↗

the son has his mother's eyes

And nose and shirt

It's almost like a lighter and darker version of the same face with longer hair.

[Drusilla]

Unfortunately,in traditional paternalistic cultures,men like this think they own their children and can dispose of them how they like. The kid would have had a much better life in the US,but no,Mr.Revenge has to throw his kid under the bus to prove a point. Hope the guy and his mom grow close and one day piss on the dad's grave.

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by Drusilla ↗

Unfortunately,in traditional paternalistic cultures,men like this think they own their children and can dispose of them how they like. The kid would have had a much better life in the US,but no,Mr.Revenge has to throw his kid under the bus to prove a point. Hope the guy and his mom grow close and one day piss on the dad's grave.

Reminds me of a movie, "I Spit on Your Grave." ;)