Lisbon Is Six Hours Ahead
Rodrigo starts with his own relationship. He and Ines explain the six-hour gap, the shared calendar with colour codes, and the fight about who flies at Christmas, separately and then together.
Four Years Waiting for a Visa
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Show notes
This episode
Luis and Brenda met in Oaxaca, married in a small ceremony in 2022, and filed immediately. The visa is still processing. Their daughter was born in Houston in 2024 while Luis watched on a phone propped against a water bottle. This is their story, separately and together.
- The paperwork: what four years of a spousal petition really involves
- The border: why Brenda visits and Luis cannot
- Parenting across a screen: bedtime stories over video, every night at seven
- The money and the lawyers, and the one piece of advice they wish they had got early
- What they will do first when the visa arrives
Next time: a Filipino seafarer and his wife on nine-month contracts at sea.
Transcript
Hola, this is Two Time Zones, One Calendar, and I am Rodrigo. Last time you heard my own story, with a six-hour gap and a lot of flights. Today's distance is shorter on a map and much harder in real life. Luis lives in Oaxaca. Brenda lives in Houston. They married in 2022, and they filed his visa paperwork the same month. It has still not arrived. Brenda can visit him. Luis cannot visit her. In 2024 their daughter was born in a hospital in Houston while Luis watched on a phone leaning against a water bottle on a table in Oaxaca. I spoke with each of them alone first, then with both together, with the baby asleep on Brenda's shoulder. It is a story about waiting, and about not letting waiting become your whole life. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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