I swear, I will never sleep with another Canadian!
I would like to introduce all of you to America's newest citizen, my beautiful bride of 30 years, Arlene Hampton.
Congratulations love, I am so proud and happy for you!
Born a Canadian, though living here since before she was one year old, this has been a long and hard decision for her, and was not a small effort to obtain her citizenship (it would be interesting to see how we here on the NTer's would fare on the U.S. history/civics exam alone). The time, effort, and money were all well worth it.
To top it all off we drove down to Minneapolis to stay overnight on Sunday, as the ceremony was Monday morning. We had a hellacious winter storm on Sunday, so our ol' suburban crept along turning a 6 hour drive into a white-knuckled, stressful 10 hour drive. We were thankful for safe travels though as we heard the next day on the way home, that there were over 900 crashes and 400 spin-outs the day before (we believed it 'cause we saw a lot of them with our own eyes!). Phew!
If any of you ever get a chance to be a guest at a citizenship ceremony I highly suggest doing so,,,,imho every American should experience it at least once. Go see the "melting pot" in action, and observe first hand what has truly and traditionally made America great all along. The day Arlene received her citizenship, she did so beside 63 other Minnesotans from 27 different countries. As big a deal as it was for us, it was quite obvious that for most of the others that received their citizenship, what a stupendous and life altering thing it really was. It was very emotional for many there, and tears of joy and wonder were freely flowing. The gratitude and thankfulness was highly contagious.
Thank all of you for joining me in welcoming and congratulating Arlene on this very special occasion!
:~)
The League of Women Voters had volunteers there at the ceremony, and they walked the new citizens through filling out and turning in voter registration forms. This was their very first job as new citizens, and it was also emphasized how important a duty it is to take part in all aspects of citizenship.
In this situation, Larry, America's gain was Canada's loss.
Thank you Buzz; and, I thank you on behalf of your wonderful country, for giving me such a gift!
Congratulations Arlene, you can now officially drop the ''eh''....
Thank you kavika. The "eh"
will now be reserved for moments of specific emphasis only.
;^)
Great job Arlene. Congratulations. Far as the "eh" goes, it still fits in Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Sometimes even North Dakota, although their favorite speech habit there (particularly during winter) is "Brrrr" rather than "Eh".
Thank you TTGA, and yes you are very correct, "eh" has seeped into Minnesotan verbiage many years ago for good. Eh.
Uffda, yaknow dat's not true, Larry/ttga...yabetcha, I'm from da raynch.
Kavika,
A few years back, Northwestern University did a study to find out why the people in the UP talk like they do. They spent a quarter of a million dollars and determined that it probably had something to do with the Scandinavian ancestry of most of the residents. What the heck, I'd have told them that for a hundred bucks.
Larry,
The "eh" stays with you forever. It's just that, after a couple of decades, you accompany it with a cupped hand to the ear.
Where I grew up in northern, and I mean northern Minnesota the number of nationalities was amazing. Italians, Slav's, Finn's, Cousin Jacks, Swede's, French etc etc....All came to work in the iron ore mines..
We had our own native language, in addition to that was a mixture of languages that was called ''English''. Of course this was back in the day, and much of that has changed, but it's always fun to remember.
I would have told them that for $50 ttga...
There were a couple of words that we all pronounced the same...Hockey and Lacrosse.
BTW, the coldest temperature ever recorded in MN. was a Tower Sudan, minus 60 degrees. Colder than ND. There's an old saying in MN...''Summer is a Tuesday Afternoon in August''....
Wow and AWESOME!!! Congratulations Arlene. :0)
Thank you PJ; it is awesome!
:~)
Good for her she made it in before the wall goes up.
Yeah, Canada started putting the wall up shortly after trump got elected, and soon nobody will be able to get into Canada from it's southern border at all!
;^)
Congrats and welcome to the honor of being a U.S. Citizen. Though being Canadian is pretty cool too.......
Thank you spikegary, I agree completely!
:~)
Does she continue as a Dual-Citizen now? If so, she could sponsor you into becoming a Canadian citizen! Just in case they build that pesky wall thing.........LOL.....
Lol; we're gonna keep all of our options open for now....
;^)
Dear Friend Larry Hampton:
Ya'ashir Koach, Kol ha Kavod L'Arlene.
Warmest congratulations on your American citizenship Arlene, The honors go to you today.
Mrs. E. was born in Israel.
I recall vividly the day she became an American citizen.
It is an achievement of which to be proud.
I still sleep with Israeli's, Canadians and Americans.
At my age, about all I can do these days is nap.
Enoch, Copping a Few Mid Day Z's.
Enoch it is truly an honor for you to bless my wife with those words.
Thank you brother.
:~)
"I still sleep with Israeli's, Canadians and Americans."
I was never particularly discriminating, although due to geographical demographics I've slept with a lot more Canadians than any other brand. LOL
Congrats to Arlene! She looks so happy!
My understanding was that I was present at my mom's swearing in, but I couldn't get a good view from her belly, LOL!
Well, now it's like a new woman! You'll finally be able to say you've been with an American
Thanks Perrie, it was indeed a very happy day!
To such a lovely lady, congratulations Arlene!!! You two make such a poster book couple!!!
Ah, thank you Six; you are too kind!
:~)
Congratulations, Arlene and Larry! It takes a lot of courage to believe in us right now. Thank you for reaffirming that we are a great nation, just as Canada is!
Thank you Dowsey, my wife is the bravest woman I know!
Please give her my love!
I will!
Sounds like she got in just under the wire - Trump is probably fixin to toss out all the non-Muricans.
Congrats, and glad you all made it home unscathed.
Thank you Hal, and yes glad as well we made 'er home safe-n-sound!
How exciting, Larry! Congrats to Arlene. I've photographed lots of proceedings in court rooms. Among them have been adoptions, weddings, crime exonerations, and a circumcision. But I've never shot a citizenship ceremony. I'll see what I can do to rectify that in the near future.
Thank you Sister it was actually really cool!
We were also pleasantly surprised as well by the setting. My picture doesn't do the courtroom justice. It took place in a big modern building, the federal district court in downtown Minneapolis, all the way on the the fifteenth and top floor. The grand ballroom courtroom! Big windows all on top and it was a very brisk bright winter day (2 below and windy still) so it was a bright, big, beautiful room. really sweet!
I've photographed lots of proceedings in court rooms. Among them have been adoptions, weddings, crime exonerations, and a circumcision.
Egads! Did you only take tips?
Lol oh heck yeah; that deserves hazard pay!
When you gotta a Moose you don't need no stinkin' wall.
Lol, all I have to ride is an old elk!
...but they jump pretty good too!
LOL, good one Elk man.
LOL