to become natural of



I got a call from an Immigration officer on Wednesday letting me know that my Oath Ceremony for Citizenship was going to take place on Friday (today). For the last three weeks I had been anxiously waiting for 
a letter with the date and time of the Ceremony and,
 according to the officer, they forgot to send me one.

This has been a long time coming event, I have been living in the US since 1995 and have gone through many adjusting stages, so after 15 years, to become a citizen was one of the most meaningful decision I have made and to have it granted to me is one of the most generous gift that I have ever received. I have come to love this country beyond the benefits and opportunity that it offers, I love it with an ardently desire to see it prosper and continue to be one of the greatest nation in the world, and I love it with the full intention to do everything that I can to contribute to its well-being.

I thought I would be very emotional throughout the proceedings of the day but it was my mind that took the best of me. I was overwhelmed by the concept of 'naturalization'  and what it means to be naturalized. The word natural means 'innate, native, inherent' and to be naturalized is to achieve these born-with attributes. It hit me that these last 15 years were nothing but the acclimatization and adaptation process, and today, finally,
 I had come to full growth.