Your Country 'tis of Me.

That's right. This land is my land.
One score and four years ago, I was hauled over here by my parents to start a new life. For those of you that don't know much of my childhood, I had a hard time growing up in Peru. Not because I was poor and lived in deplorable conditions. On the other hand, my parents did quite well in Peru and I never thought I was in need of anything. I say I had a hard time growing up because I never spoke spanish that well. I was the only Peruvian kid that couldn't roll his r's. An easy target for uncles and aunts to pick on by letting me know that their newborn son or daughter will be speaking clearer than me within their first year of life. I was very glad when I came to the states and found out that I could start fresh with a new language that didn't require r rolling. A country filled with people that thought my spanish was quite good. Instead of going to private school I would now go to public school where a dress code was not used and where my work load went from taking 11 classes to taking 5. I was in heaven. I took to English rather quickly (the speaking that is) and I tried to become as American as I could. I think I did too good of a job. I never thought of myself as a foreigner and except for the occasional "aren't you Mexican" weak attempt at a joke, I always felt like one of your own. So much that when I told people that I just became a citizen, their congratulations were followed by surprise to know that all this time I hadn't been one.
I can't really say why it took me so long. Sometimes I think I had just forgotten that I really wasn't a citizen. I didn't think the ceremony and the paper saying I was a citizen would really be a big deal, but it was. I can't describe the feeling that comes with not just being a citizen at heart but also one on paper. I'm actually pretty excited about voting for the first time in my life and I can't wait to get a blue passport identifying me to the rest of the world as an American citizen. As Sarah mentioned we are already planning a trip to Peru. I'm glad I was born there and have that beautiful heritage to pass on to my kids (not making an announcement, don't get excited). And I'm also glad that I can have this point of view to share with them, that their citizenship comes at the sacrifice of my parents who did give up a lot.
I guess if there's a message to be shared from the new citizen among you is that I'm sure all of our citizenships came at the sacrifice of someone. Whether it's someone we are close to or someone many years ago, we should all be thankful for living where we do and enjoying the liberties that we have.