Naturalized

After a very long waiting game, one missed appointment, some missing documents and a year later, I became a naturalized U.S. citizen. The oath ceremony took about 3 hours.
There were 434 of us on the second floor of Fanuel Hall in Boston taking the oath of allegance.
The ceremony was conducted as a courtroom and once the Judge delared us citizens after the our oaths, we became legal citizens of the U.S.
The Judge had asked us to stand when he called out our country. I didn't realize this but after the Judge had said Cambodia, two others to my right stood up as I stoop up. I think there may have been about 5 or 6 from Cambodia. After 434 people stood up representing about three dozen countries, we raised our right hand and began our oath of allegiance to the United States of America:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Later we recited the pledge of allegiance:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to The Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

These words came pretty natural to me because I had recited them every morning in elementary and high school.

I did not get my Naturalization certificate after I my oath, as my marital status had changed from single to married since my interview in June.

The original one stated I was single. A new certificate had to be made with the corrected Married status. I was sent to the JFK building to await my new issued certificate. Which took another Hour and a half.

While waiting, Michelle had brought a deck of cards and we played a few rounds of go-fish, screw your neighbor, and war.

Funny that the first beer I had as a U.S. citizen was a Lebanese beer at a Middle Eastern joint on Cambridge Street in Boston. Michelle and I had gone there for a quick bite, before meeting up with some people at Flattop Johnny's for some celebratory beverages.