The End of a Long Road

Earth is an American citizen!

  We received our interview appointment in late December and there was just no way we could make all of the arrangements we would have needed to make to travel in a month so we reached out to our senator's office for help in rescheduling our appointment.  They were able to help us connect with the right person at the Honolulu office to get the appointment changed to July 16.

  We made our travel arrangements and held our breath that nothing would get in the way of the trip.  July came and Earth and I traveled to Honolulu.  I was just ready for everything to be over and while Earth was excited to be on a plane again, he hated being away from D and his brothers and sister.  The day of the appointment finally came and both Earth and I were up early.  It was wild to finally be doing what we had waited so long for.  The waiting room was the same and the wait was the same as when we visiting for Sky and Fire's citizenship I really hoped that the interview would be the same too, just a few questions and then back out again but it didn't turn out that way.  I don't know why I thought that they wouldn't have the paperwork from my failed attempt to  get Earth a green card but of course they did.  His file was two inches thick!  The interviewer asked me a lot of questions about how Earth joined our family and our relationship with his birth family, I suppose trying to clarify things from the earlier case.  Eventually she turned to Earth and asked him some questions.  When she asked him who I was he said, "Ms Amber" and I just about died!  I had to scramble to clarify that since I work at the Library, that's what all his preschool friends call me when they come for story time.  It thought for sure we were going to be in trouble, that she would accuse us of faking our case but she accepted my answers and moved on.  D's address was still listed as Tucson and she did ask about that but I was able to show her his employment contract and orders for Kwajalein and to confirm that we had sold the house and she accepted that.  I think the whole process took about an hour and half. 

  Once we were done with the interview, she asked us to return to the waiting room without saying whether or not Earth had passed.  We waited 40 minutes with no answer and I was just starting to convince myself of all the bad things when a young woman walked out with his certificate.  She apologized for the wait and explained that they've just recently switched to digitally printing the photos and were having trouble with the system.  We took our picture and then were free to go.  Earth and I stopped in a bathroom before leaving so he could change into his citizen shirt and and walk out showing everyone that he was a new American.

 Since we were still technically in quarantine (we had special privilege to leave the hotel for the interview) we celebrated with all the screen time Earth wanted and ordering McDonalds for dinner.   I'm beyond thankful that we've completed the process and that Earth is an American.  Now, we can always be together as a family and no one can question if we belong together.  I'm looking forward to putting all this behind us and moving on with whatever life holds for us.