American Citizen!

I was so incredibly honored to be a witness at Regina's swearing in ceremony today. This day has been coming for a long time. Excitement (and frustration) had been building for weeks anticipating this day. It was finally here and Regina had her own cheering section - hell we had almost an entire pew! Everyone from S&B was there, plus Rick and Kathleen. She had been told the ceremony would begin at 10:30 so we all arrived around 10am. Soon after she was informed the ceremony would be divided into two groups and she was in the 12:30 group. Since there wasn't anywhere to wait for two hours, we decided to walk to a nearby coffee shop to wait. The poor security guards didn't quite know what to make of us - they were all pretty somber the first time we passed them. We seem to make a scene no matter where we go or what we do. The Norfolk Courthouse was no exception. One of the guards we passed on the way out said, "You guys remind me of a sitcom!" I responded by saying, "You have no idea."

After grabbing a snack and something to drink, we headed back to the courthouse about 11:45. At this point, the poor guards just shook their heads at us. As we filed into the courtroom and took our seats and the giggling began. I swear you just can't take us anywhere. It was pretty pathetic at one point. We'll laugh over anything. Behaving just isn't in our vocabulary. But boy we know how to have fun. The ceremony finally began and we sobered up a bit. It was interesting to see where everyone was from - several from Germany, lots from the Phillipines, a few from Pakistan and Aghanistan, and the UK. It was going pretty well until Ben Loyola got up to speak. Good grief! Thank goodness Fran had her purse and was doling out the tissues. He had us all in tears. His story was incredibly moving and his emotions almost got the best of him on several occasions.

The entire ceremony really made me stop and think about what it means to be an American citizen - something a lot of us take for granted on a daily basis. I am so thankful to Regina for the opportunity of this experience. Of course we were whooping it up and waving our little flags as we exited the courthouse - the guards were just a grinning as we left ... I wonder why?

We found ourselves at 4-5-6 Fish for a celebratory lunch where we did a bit more whooping and quite a few toasts to the new citizen. It was an awesome day and I am so proud to be an American!