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The newest citizen of the United States
28 September 2011
Salt Lake City, Utah |
On September 28, 2011 I because a US citizen. The oath ceremony took place in Salt Lake City at the Rose Wagner Theater. It was a beautiful Wednesday morning. David, Jane and I arrived in Salt Lake a few minutes before 9:15am, my appointed time to report for the oath ceremony. We got separated and I was instructed to seat with the other new citizens on the lower level of the theater, while the friends and family would seat at the balcony. The ceremony started at 10:00am and there were 191 of us. It was fun and emotional to sing the US national anthem and recite the Pledge of allegiance for the first time. After a musical number by a former Mormon Tabernacle Choir couple and a nice patriotic talk given by a Daughters of the American Revolution member who advised us to write down why we wanted to become US citizens, we were told to stand up, hold our right arm up and repeat the oath of allegiance. The oath was pretty long but easy to follow and understand. After, the presiding judge talked to us about his own experience becoming a US citizen and he even interviewed a few people from the audience. It was interesting to hear the different stories; one person's wife was still back in another country, another came to get an education, another wanted freedom, another looked for safety, while one woman described with tears in her eyes how she spent her childhood in refugee camps and wanted her family to be united. Next, the words of Barak Obama welcoming us to this country of opportunities and freedom and the song 'God bless America' brought tears to my eyes.
I am now a citizen of the United States! But why did I want to come here? Why did I decide to become a citizen? To answer these questions, I would have to go back to the time I was about 13 years old, back in Romania. It was about then when I decided that I would move to America when I grew up. The thought always gave me a feeling of happiness and anticipation. I didn't know what America was like, I'd never met anyone from there but I knew that it was the place where I wanted to live my life. Like, a woman at the oath ceremony said, I wanted to be an American when I grew up. :) I knew that here I'd be happy. I didn't think it was going to be easy and I had no idea how I was even going to get here, but I wanted it with all my heart. I started studying English on my own, even during the summer vacation. I liked learning anything about America and I even wrote stories about the day I would leave Romania. I still remember drawing a picture of the New York skyline from memory, with the twin towers in it. I was pretty much obsessed. All I wanted was to grow up and leave. I wanted a different way of life and a job that would provide me with enough money to help my family in Romania. So, at that time, my main reason, other than purely loving America, was to take care of my family and be able to afford different things that they needed. As time went by I realized that I needed to study and learn quite a bit if I wanted to have a good, dependable job. So, after I graduated from high school I went to a two year college of massage therapy. It wasn't what I loved but it was the best and only option. It was during this time that I met the missionaries of the LDS church, from America. They helped me learn more and even study more English. After about two years I was accepted to attend school at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, where I started in January 2003. I was finally in America, going to an American university and experiencing what I'd only been dreaming for the past ten years. Utah was different than the East coast, where I always envisioned myself living, but it was nice and not too cold in the winter. While going to BYU my reasons to coming to America changed a bit. In a way I became a little more selfish. I knew that this was where I wanted to be and I still wanted all the other things for my family but now I wanted to make a life here. I wanted to do well in school and succeed. I wanted more for myself and I knew that I had the opportunity to get it. Just like the judge at the ceremony said, you'll never get anything here without work but you'll always have opportunities to do anything you want in life. I definitely agreed to that and I still think that is definitely the way of life here. Nothing without hard work but always being able to find opportunities to achieve anything in life. While at BYU I met my future husband, David and after dating for 10 months we got married in Manti, Utah. My dream life was starting to take shape. I could have a family and be happy and I found the man that loved me and that I loved. So, America turned out to give me even more than I expected. I never thought that I would actually marry someone here. Like I said, my reasons and dreams were a bit selfish involving pretty much me doing all these wonderful things for others and being the one who saved the day. Well, school took longer than I thought, life kept rolling by and three years after we got married we became pregnant with our first daughter, Jane. I knew now that my life might be a bit different than what I envisioned but I was very happy. And with the birth of Jane my reason for coming to America and becoming a citizen changed once again. The main reason why I want to live here and be an American is now to provide our children the opportunities that they might not have had if they were born somewhere else. I know that one can receive good education and many other wonderful things in many other parts of the world but I know for a fact that in America my babies will be able to pursue whatever dream they might have and just this knowledge gives me hope and love for this country. I know America is not perfect but it is still the land of opportunity. I don't know if my reasons will change again. As of right now, I'm pretty sure that they will stay about the same at least for a while. I still want the best for my family back home and I'll keep working at achieving that goal but living here gave me a new perspective and way of seeing and doing things. A perspective I like. A way of life a I like. I have a wonderful family and how many people can say that they have two wonderful countries to call home? I'm thankful and happy to be a citizen of the United States and I hope to be worthy of my new status and to have many opportunities to do great things in my new home country.
