geezer-lock Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 A tip of the ol' Stetson to you, and welcome podnuh! geezer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 What took you so long...??!! Welcome to a big, crazy place... but we're good people, bless our hearts! (And he's a great photographer, too!!!!) VERY awesome to have ya! So, now how about moving out West...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 but we're good people, bless our hearts! You got me laughing about that old thread now Siggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRNinTX Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 Nik, Congratulations! You are the second person/shooter in the past year that I know to receive their US Citizenship. Rudi (Autrian Cowboy) Waldinger was sworn in last year. My wife and I talked to Rudi for a long time one day at FGN and I was humbled by the things that we take for granted as citizens of this great country. It must be exicitng to become a citizen at this time with the election so near. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 Just don't go thinking there will be any moneys left when you hit social security age (said jokingly, not politically ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted July 30, 2004 Author Share Posted July 30, 2004 Thank you! I'm overwhelmed by the range of responses. Yesterday was a pretty emotional day ---- starting with some stress over not being able to locate my current (until yesterday afternoon) German passport, which I was sure I'd need for the interview. From there through the pleasant and efficient interview/citizenship and english test which took a grand total of about 13 minutes to complete. Then being told that I was being recommended for naturalization --- and would I be available at 3:15 p.m. to be sworn in? That was a no-brainer: Yeah, I'm ready! Driving home to pick up Carol, I thought about all the others who'd come before me looking for a better life here. Thought about the debt we all owe to those people who created, nourished, maintained, defended and improved this country --- and how to best repay that debt by continuing to be a contributing member of this society. Being handed a letter from President Bush at the ceremony that starts with the phrase "Dear Fellow American." Realizing that that phrase will forever include me. Taking the oath, pledging allegiance to this country. Ten minutes after being sworn in walking into the same Dunkin' Donuts I'd walked into five hours earlier on my way home the first time and realizing that I really felt no different than on the earlier trip. I realized that yesterday simply marked the legal recognition of a conversion from German to American that had taken place over the last decade or so. SigLady asked why it took so long. I was imported when I was 11 years old. All through high school and for most of the decade after, I thought I might return to Germany to live and work someday. I wanted to preserve the option. On a trip home (and in a way the Neckar Valley outside Heidelberg, where I lived from birth to move, will always be my first home) in 1991 I noticed a certain rigidity and formality in the country and it's people. As I continued to learn, I realized that I valued choices, options and open minds above all else. I don't wish to tell anyone else how to live --- and I want to be left to make my own decisions as well. Nowhere else on earth is this as possible as it is here. My first ever application must have disappeared in the mail. The check was never cashed. The second application was almost ready to go in early September 2001. I figured the INS would have more important things to do --- and parked it in a drawer. I finally mailed it off last year and INS received it on July 30th. Two days shy of a year later the process ended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 Congrats Nik, I did the same thing and got sworn in back in May (from Canada for me, and I ain't going back unless I get to be in the lead tank ). You're lucky with getting to do the ceremony so quickly, for me it was over 6 months between successful interview and the ceremony due to some incomplete FBI checks, talk about waiting for the shoe to drop . Scot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 Nik, congratualations! I have some inkling of what it feels like as I have gone through the same not that long ago. This is what I wrote about it, shortly afterwards, partially for others to understand but mostly for myself to remember. Interestingly we both had at least one emotion in common, that of not feeling different yet somehow feeling that something important has transpired. Again, good luck and welcome! Vlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 "...and I want to be left to make my own decisions as well. Nowhere else on earth is this as possible as it is here." Hardly a day goes by now that I don't think of this sort of thing here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 Welcome Home Nik, Reading this thread reminds me of once againg how we take the liberties we have in America for granted. That others seek so hard to become what we take for granted should make everyone of us work to become better citizens. I disdain politics with a passion, but believe mightily in the ballot box. Once again, NIk, welcome to America. OBTW, I bet Nik doesn't have to be begged to vote!!!!!! FWIW dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted July 30, 2004 Author Share Posted July 30, 2004 Nik, congratualations! I have some inkling of what it feels like as I have gone through the same not that long ago. This is what I wrote about it, shortly afterwards, partially for others to understand but mostly for myself to remember. Interestingly we both had at least one emotion in common, that of not feeling different yet somehow feeling that something important has transpired.Again, good luck and welcome! Vlad Vlad, Wow! Everyone should click on the link in Vlad's post and read what he had to say about what it means to be a citizen. It reminds me of concepts instilled so long ago, while earning a citizenship merit badge in the Boy Scouts at 14, things like: Jury duty is an opportunity to serve, not something to be gotten out of; Voting is not just a right, it's a responsibility; deciding how to vote is not just a matter of asking "what's good for me and mine," rather it's pondering what's good for your school system, your community, your state, your country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpolans Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 Congrats Nik! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Merricks Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 Hope this turns out right Nik. Nik bin ich für Sie und nach dem Lesen aller Anmerkungen so glücklich Ihr Thema hat mich noch stolzer darauf gemacht, ein Amerikaner zu sein. Weclome mein Freund zum Land des freien und des Hauses des tapferen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liota Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 I didn't know you was a furner!! Congratz! He isn't a furner. He's an American. Congratulations, Nik! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liota Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 Nik, congratualations! I have some inkling of what it feels like as I have gone through the same not that long ago. This is what I wrote about it, shortly afterwards, partially for others to understand but mostly for myself to remember. Interestingly we both had at least one emotion in common, that of not feeling different yet somehow feeling that something important has transpired.Again, good luck and welcome! Vlad Vlad, The Oath of Citizenship is remarkably like the Oath of Enlistment/Commissioning for the US Military. I have given the Oath of Enlistment four times. Each time it nearly left me in tears. The second and fourth times it DID leave me in tears. The reason for the tears is twofold. One, the Commissioned Officer who re-enlisted me on each occasion was someone I care for and respect. Two, the sheer magnitude of the oath itself. You are most correct. The responsibility is immense, but the rewards are boundless. Liota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 Congrats Nik. I'm thinking more and more about doing the same thing. Way to go dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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