BLOG ARTICLE:
♫ Proud to be an American♫ (and a Canadian and a Greek)!
So, I’m a Greek-Canadian citizen that was living in New York City for over a decade. I was here on a work visa and then an H1B, so I was golden and legally happy.
MARRIED AN AMERICAN…
I met my wife in New York and we ended up getting married. During this time, I’m still traveling with my Canadian passport and she is traveling with her US passport around the world. No worries. Life was fine. Then we started pumping out kids… we have our first child, we have our second child. Then it becomes difficult to travel with different passports.
The ego in me was like, I don’t need the US passport. I love this country, I respect the country and its people but I don’t need to be an American. But traveling with my kids under different passports was difficult when entering different countries related to customs.
HOW HARD WAS THE APPLICATION PROCESS?
So, I applied for US citizenship under the Trump Administration and literally within months, I get the notification that I am going to be sworn in at the Los Angeles Convention Center to become an American citizen. The night before the ceremony I told my wife, ‘hey, tomorrow morning I need to be in LA for 5:00AM to be sworn in…”
She’s like, “sworn in for what?” I go, “oh, I’m getting my US citizenship and tomorrow is the official ceremony”. She starts freaking out in a good way telling me how important and amazing this is and we all have to go together to experience this.
I’m like, “it’s not a big deal, I’m going to get that paper, get the passport and be done with it”. My mindset was, I am coming from a 1st world nation and it is not a big deal to be receiving this American citizenship.
11,000 PEOPLE IN A ROOM
Anyways, we arrive to the Convention Center and there are 6,000 soon-to-be Americans being sworn in and there are 5,000 guests there for their family members. A total of 11,000 people in this massive space celebrating this achievement.
During the ceremony, I am looking around at all the people waiting to be sworn in. Every face said a story, every person with a struggle or a triumph. The minute they start playing the US National Anthem and we all rise, I got instant chills running through my body. I saw every possible race and nationality represented in that room coming from all over the world. Everyone was crying with joy, cheering and I was sitting there up until this point taking this entire experience and opportunity for granted.
I WON, I WON!
I quickly snapped out of that and embraced this experience. Everyone was cheering like we won the World Cup. High fiving each other, smiling all around and sharing in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Becoming a citizen of the United States of America. Wow!
I love where I’m from and I respect my cultures that helped mold who I am today. But that being said, I took for granted how incredible this country is and what life it has allowed me to achieve and live thus far.
Proud (new) American Citizen!
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