Anticlimactic

So the oath ceremony was a bit disappointing. I woke Ruby up from a deep and peaceful nap, which felt horrendously wrong, to go with her and Jonner to the Federal building. After going through security, we all crowded into elevators (there were about 100 of us) and got off on the 15th floor where we all milled about uncertainly for almost half an hour while Ruby ran around with Jonner and I stood in a line. Soon, an officer came to check our summons form and green card. Then we waited in a long line to get the same documents checked by another officer. And then another line to have the same thing done again by a lady who took my green card (to my brief shock and horror) and called me "Joanie" (and acted shocked when I told her is was "Joanne"). Then we sat in the courtroom and watched the same immigrant video three times in a row, listened to Sousa, and a tinny version of America the Beautiful. Then the league of women voters came and helped everyone fill out their voter registration cards. The family members were let in, and we all waited in silence for about 10 minutes. This is when I started getting irate. The judge came in, we sang the Star Spangled Banner in a key so high that nobody could even sing the low parts much less the Mariah Carey bits, then took the oath which was mainly about being willing to serve in a military capacity, then the pledge of allegiance. Then the judge rambled on a bit about immigrants and our responsibilities as citizens, and then the worst part-- we had to listen to all three verses of "I'm proud to be an American". I thought I was going to die.

The certificates were handed out in an extremely inefficient manner, and then we were finally done. I handed in my voter registration card and then proceeded to nurse Ruby, which was pretty much the only thing on my mind for the past hour anyway.

So that's it. I'm an American citizen now.