In a way, I’ve always been an “American.” I’ve always known myself as a responsible, free person, and America was designed by and for people like me. (Click photos to enlarge.)
St. Nicholas Cathedral
This is Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC. Why are we starting here?
It’s an old-style Orthodox church with no pews and completely covered with icons.
St. Nicholas Cathedral
It’s “my” church; my spiritual home.
Receiving the blessing
This is Father Constantine blessing my purpose to become an American citizen. This was June 12th 2005, the Sunday before my citizenship interview.
Another two months
Here I am ready to go into the USCIS office in Fairfax, Virginia on June 16th. I’m wearing my flag lapel pin, my Adam Smith tie, my Bull Run Hunt cap and I fully expected that when I emerged, I would be a citizen. But no. Because I wasn’t a resident of Northern Virginia, that had to wait for nearly two more months.
National Archives
So, we visited the National Archives.
US Constitution
And gazed at some of the original documents conveying the ideas that are America.
Waiting to take the oath
August 9th, 2005. Lined up with 92 other people to give up our “alien” status and take the oath of citizenship. The woman behind me is from Ireland and the one (in white) ahead of me from St. Vincent in the Caribbean.
Standing for the oath
Here we all are, standing for the oath. I’m behind the lady in white. The two guys in the foreground are from Canada and Austria. Most of the new citizens this day were from Central America and Northern Africa.
A US citizen
Well finally! That’s my certificate of citizenship held up before the icons of St. Helen and St. Peter. The next day I surrendered it (temporarily) to the passport office. They said I’ll get it back in about six weeks with my new passport.
