Golf is a US Citizen!

Our family reached a major milestone today. My husband became a citizen of the United States on this day!
He took the Oath of Citizenship at the Paramount Theater in Oakland this morning along with 1,200 other people from 96 countries. The balcony of the beautiful theater was filled with friends and family for the joyous occasion. Mom and Dad made the journey the night before and joined us.

The night before, the parents took us out in a celebration dinner at a steakhouse in Oakland and while the restaurant was more casual than expected, the food was outstanding! I just shared with Aidan and Mom, but Golf had a huge steak that he devoured and was a happy and satisfied man.

On Wednesday, the BIG day, Aidan didn't go to school so he could attend, too. The ceremony was just right, not too long. The MC could greet and say some sentences in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Tagalog, French and Hindi and needless to say, all of us in the audience were impressed!

Later on, the lady who would do the swearing-in oath, read the names of the 96 countries represented that day. When your home country was read, you would stand and by the end of the list, everyone was standing. They were then instructed to raise their right hand and repeat the oath line by line. It was cool.

Then new citizens handed in their green cards and received a certificate of naturalization. They now don't have to prove that they are in the United States legally. Think about it. I don't have to carry documentation with me because I am a citizen. Golf doesn't either. Made me feel so good and it brought a big cheer in the audience.

It was such a great day and Golf was on top of the world as we all were.

Next step in the coming months is to get his American passport.With a green card, his travel prospects were restricted, along with time limits. But with citizenship his options just expanded significantly.