The Planner 00Iren

When I tell my daughters that their mother was amazing, I am not sure they grasp the magnitude of her stature. They tell me – “Yes dad, we know”.

I remember the day I saw Christina the first time. It was in the halls of the chemistry department of Simon Fraser University. We both entered this long hallway at the same time, in opposite directions, in white lab coats, and we had the opportunity to take a good look at each other. When we passed our eyes crossed. She kept walking without turning but I looked back to see her disappear into one of the laboratories. “Wow, I do not have a remote chance with that girl!”

Years later, after we reunited in Vancouver, she told me that she thought the same "- He is going to make a woman very happy one day" - She told me that she had no idea that it was going to be her.

After I received the ultimatum letter from Canada Immigration, I was left with no option but to escape to the United States and avoid deportation and possible imprisonment in Cuba for being a traitor of some relevance. The problem was how to secure the logistics of the escape; I had stopped working for months and had been burning all my savings. Christina was an SFU student, and I was not going to accept her funds even after she offered to help me financially. I had no choice but to request financial assistance from a close relative living in the US.

With the Canada Immigration dateline approaching on the second week of September 1993, I was very stressed to come up with an escape plan. All I had in my mind were ill-conceived thoughts about how to cross the border without being detected. When Christina asked me, I presented my ideas to her. “-You will be caught, and you will be deported, and I am not going to go visit you in a prison in Cuba. Forget that nonsense and listen”.

Christina’s idea was simple and involved no fence jumping, no late-night crossing through some distant “unprotected” field, none of that. Her plan was to cross right under the noses of the border guards.

The first thing we needed to accomplish was to secure a plane ticket from Washington state to Florida. This task fell on a relative in the US and it was difficult considering that the first weekend of September 1993 was a labor day weekend: everyone was traveling and flights were booked to the max which meant that a last-minute plane booking was going to be difficult to do and very expensive.

On the last days of August, my relative called me and told me that there was a booking for September 3rd out of Bellingham International Airport, it had cost a mint and I could not miss that flight. I could not believe it; the escape was set in motion!

Christina’s plan was very simple but she wanted to rehearse it so nothing would be left to chance on the day of the escape. Her plan was to cross through Peace Arch Park right next to a border crossing.

Her idea was simple; she would take me to a transit stop near the park where I would board a public bus to the park to disconnect my arrival to her car. That meant that she would arrive at the park first and head to the American side of the park, select a picnic table and wait for me there. After my arrival to the park, on the Canadian side, I would go to the bathrooms of the park on the American side, then walk towards the picnic table and meet with her. Because we were setting face to face, we had a good view of each other’s back. Next, observe and record.

Leaving the park had to be deceitful as well. Her plan was that I would start walking south as if I was going to leave the American side of the park but then turn west towards the sea and head towards the bathrooms again, then exit the bathroom and head towards the Canadian side of the park and wait there for her. On the day of the escape, I would keep walking south, exit the parking lot on the American side and keep walking towards a diner that was in the area in those days, enter the facility and wait for her there.

The first rehearsal on September 1st went flowless. I was feeling nervous but more confident that the escape was going to be successful. However, when I met with Christina in the parking lot, she told me – “We screw up the time, look at the time; you missed your flight. We are coming tomorrow again.”

For September 2nd rehearsal all times had to be readjusted: the time she would pick me up at my place, the local bus time to Peace Arch Park, the time we had to be in the park, and the time that I had to exit the American side of the park towards the US. We could not account for the time it would take us to the airport, but Christina estimated the best she could because she had traveled that road before, the Interstate 5, and the risk was manageable.

The second rehearsal was perfect, like a clock. This gave us confidence that we could execute the escape successfully without being caught. On the way home, we were silent. When she dropped me off, she said – “Be ready tomorrow real early to be able to spend a few more minutes together”.

On September 3rd Christina picked me up real early. We spent a lovely time, mostly silent in White Rock. When it was time to head for the bus stop, we both had a few tears in our eyes but very quickly we jumped into our rehearsed sequence and we were focused on the job.

When it was time for me to leave the park, we were not emotional. I started to walk south without looking back but to this day I feel her eyes burning my back. I was walking as if I had done that walk a million times before, then turned left and the diner was in view. I walked in and ordered a coffee.

That was the deepest I had ever been on US soil in my entire life! I felt like screaming! I was free! Then I saw the sweetest face with the biggest smile! Oh, how sweet that was!!!! She sat for a moment, held my hands, and told me – “Let’s go, it is time and we are not home free yet”.

The miles from Peace Arche Park to the airport were the longest in my life! Every patrol car that passed us I thought that the car would be stopped! But no.

At the airport, we had a few minutes extra before my flight. Obviously, I had nothing but what I was wearing, US$200 in my pocket and a pair of sunglasses! When the boarding of my flight was announced we fused ourselves in a hug that people around us looked at us and thinking “wow, that must be love!”. That followed, “take care”, “write!”, “we will be in touch!”, “I love you!!!”

Before walking into the plane I gave Christina my sunglasses and told her – “you keep them, you look really mean and hot wearing them!”  You will be the judge