Cindy was sworn in as an American Citizen today. I am so proud of her. It has been a 7+ year journey and at times she wondered if America was interested in having her as a citizen. I have many many times assured her that it just takes a lot of time and we’ll be there soon…
We didn’t know until we got there that she would actually become a Citizen TODAY. The notice just said that she was to report for an interview that would take up to 2 hours. We went right in and the interview was over in about 30 minutes. When she came out she was all smiles and she told me that she would be sworn-in at 2:00! I couldn’t believe it.
At the swearing-in there were 54 new citizens from 25 different countries. (Cindy was the only one from Mainland China) All populated continents were represented. There was so much pride and so much hope. Everyone sworn in today came to the end of a long and, in some cases, very complicated haul.
Yes, I cried a little during the ceremony. I think everybody did. I’ll never forget the looks on the new Americans’ faces as they got it. It was a wonderful experience. I thought y’all might enjoy hearing about it.
Bless her for still wanting to become a citizen of this country in the face of its current troubles. May she enjoy all the benefits of her newly earned citizenship and find that it is a country to be proud of. May we all!
I remember like yesterday the day my wife and I went down to the Federal courthouse in Cleveland for her to be sworn in as a citizen of the USA, along with about 50 other immigrants-no-more. That was almost thirty years ago. Paul and Cindy, best wishes from me and my Italian-born wife.
BTW, we had our difficulties with the INS as well. If you have ever seen the movie “Green Card” then you know what it was like.
Mike
Cool! She will seriously get a big kick out of that. Thanks a lot, JG.
She has been in the States for about 9 years total now. her English is really good now, too. When we were in China earlier this year a lot of the people we would meet didn’t believe that she was from China. They thought she was American. It was pretty wierd for her. So yesterday I told her next time we go she can just tell them all she’s an American.
Not quite, but the seriousness of it all was. We did have to take oaths to tell the truth, the whole truth, etc. before the lady started asking questions. She interviewed my wife first for about an hour and then me, making sure that we had no opportunity to talk to each other in between. It would have been more intimidating if we didn’t know we were telling the truth. The interviewer was real nice afterwards but deadly serious during the questioning.
. It was too late to do it today
Please tell her that we all are proud of her as well