This is it, folks. The famed Faneuil Hall. Cradle of Liberty. This is where it all went down. The pictures inside weren't great. It was crowded. Officials were tense. Lighting was terrible. But here are a few that made it.
Some of the 397 people who became American citizens the same moment that I did. The judge presiding over the ceremony was thirty minutes late while we were done with the processing fifteen minutes early. That meant that for forty-five minutes, we were told to do nothing but sit still. And listen to not-at-all inspiring stories about the founder of Wal-Mart. There we were, 398 of us, without our green cards (we had turned them in when we arrived) and without proof of citizenship. In limbo. Waiting for one important American.
At long last, after hours of waiting, lessons on voting and jury duty, swearing allegiance and a willingness to bear arms, and being told that we could not make a difference in any country but the United States of America, after all that- picking up the certificates of naturalization.
The patronizing card that assumes that my life is so pitiful that the day I became a naturalized citizen would be the greatest day in my life. Why, even as I type now, I am giving thanks for the privilege to blog, one of the many privileges bestowed upon me as one of the citizens of this great United States.
