Dr. Eric Infanti

When Dr. Eric Infanti married his wife Maryam, he didn’t step into a shared home.

He stepped into a process.

A system.

A timeline that would stretch months into years—separating him from his wife and her daughter, Eli, as they navigated the long and uncertain path of legal immigration.

This is not just a story about distance.

It is a story about what it means to:

• Love fully without physical presence
• Be a husband without standing beside your wife
• Be a father without being able to show up in the moments that matter most
• Hold a family together across silence, uncertainty, and time

At the center of this journey is a simple image:

A bench by a lake in North Carolina.

A place Eric returned to again and again—alone—
knowing one day, they would sit there together.

But this book is not about waiting passively.

It is about what happens when waiting becomes:

• Discipline
• Devotion
• A daily decision not to let something sacred break

Through deeply personal reflection and a voice that blends grounded strength with spiritual clarity, Our Bench Awaits explores:

• The psychological weight of prolonged uncertainty
• The transformation of identity under pressure
• The nature of love beyond proximity
• The role of a father when presence is limited—but responsibility is not
• The quiet power of choosing to hold what matters, no matter how long it takes

This is not a story of hope alone.

It is a story of certainty.

Because some things are not defined by time—
but by what we refuse to let break.

• Loved someone across distance
• Waited for something that felt like it should already be yours
• Faced a system that didn’t move at the pace of your life
• Been forced to hold something without knowing when it would arrive

This book is for you.

And when you reach the end—

you’ll understand:

The wait was never empty.
It was building something unbreakable.