Proud to be an American

I just had an uplifting experience that makes me proud to be an American.

I often ask people how their summer is going or if they had a fun 4th of July when they come into my office. Today, I had a guy from India come in to pay his bill. We started making small talk and as always, I asked him how his 4th was. I said "so did you go to the Cruise In?" as most people do here. He nodded no. He just looked at me and said in his thick accent, "no actually I was studying!" His eyes lit up as he said it.

I was a little confused. It's summer, he's not of typical college age and its a holiday. Why would he be studying? He could tell I was confused so he piped back in..." for citizenship!" He was so excited. He took his test to become a United States citizen on Monday the 6th and passed. His whole family passed. Next month he, his wife, and 20 some year old son will be taking an oath to become a citizen.

Maybe it hit me because its July, maybe because my emotions have been more on the surface lately, but either way it made me Proud to be an American!

We started talking about what that would entail to become American, and we chatted and laughed about different things like taxes. I then jokingly said, "maybe its not all that worth it..." He looked at me and said... "Yes it is worth it!"

Man do I take advantage of what I have in my life. I have family that loves me, a home of my own, cars, and most of all freedom. I can dress how I want, live where I want, say what I want and practice the religion that I want. How much better can it get? Yes money may be tight, I may have to work full time to help support my family, I may not see my husband as much as I would like, but I have the freedom to be myself and help Jody work to better our future!

I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!