Becoming an American without Losing My Roots: a Monumental Inner Journey, Part 1

exercising my right to vote

This story began when I was born, really. My father was a soldier who zealously fought with Americans against the Japanese on Philippine soil in WWII.  On the other hand, my mother was a dedicated teacher who was sent to America on a Philippine government scholarship to study the education of the deaf and bring back to the country the latest in pedagogy. Both infected me with their love for America.

The contagious disease was left largely unchecked. Getting a high school scholarship to the American School in the Philippines did not help. Training by American multinationals after college further stirred the pot. I flirted with the idea of relocating to the US when Philippine democracy and economy were in tatters during the fall of Marcos. It was, therefore, no accident that I came to America to retire. On Valentines’ Day 2011, I became a US citizen.

cruising to a life together

On a private cruise ship, I married a businessman and we cruised in an RV for eight years. Very early in our cruising days, from Alaska down to the Southwest to Mexico and then the Southeast, I witnessed the beauty of America in its spectacular national parks like Glacier Bay, Denali, Mt. Rainier, Yosemite, Sequoia, Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Everglades, Smokey Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Badlands, etc. I began to hum the song, America, the Beautiful.

Fort McHenry in Baltimore

But when we started our drive up the East Coast from Florida, the other reason for loving America came to the fore in full force. As I visited the solemn halls in Washington DC and the places where the American flag and national anthem were born in Baltimore, I got a definite sense of the significant role Virginia and Maryland had in the making of this great nation. I began to hum the Star-Spangled Banner.  

In Philadelphia, I stood in awe in front of the Carpenters Hall where the first Intercontinental Congress was held, the house where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Independence Hall where the document was signed, and the Liberty Bell. In Boston and Concord, there were many historic sites where the American Revolution started to sizzle, fought the initial skirmishes, and fired the “shot heard round the world.”

Carpenter's Hall

I was, in no uncertain terms, starting to feel like an American. I felt sad when I walked along the paths of strife and terror, happy when I reached the points of triumph and celebration and inspired in the midst of ancient ruins and great houses of American Indians. How lucky could I be for having been accepted as a naturalized American citizen? But I knew the conversion was final when I began to take pride.

Liberty Bell with Independence Hall behind

The technical difference between a US permanent resident and a naturalized citizen is that the latter can vote (or run for an elected post office). As a traveler, I cast my vote for the very first time in the 2012 presidential elections via guaranteed express mail delivery. A country of more than 300 million accepted the results with polling centers in Hawaii and Alaska still open. It was amazing to watch.

Aside from the electoral process, I just love the public library system. They say that there are more libraries than McDonalds’ stores in America. Throughout our eight years of RVing, every county issued library cards to us even if we would only be in the area for a couple of weeks. We were also most benefitted by the largest national highway system in the world, almost four million miles of overpasses and freeways that extend from coast to coast, seamlessly interconnected with the city, county, and state roads. Through Bill’s $10 Senior Golden Pass, we visited, for free, twenty-nine of forty-nine National Parks, eighty-two National Monuments and National Historic Sites, and both national parkways.

here was where "the shot heard round the world" was fired

I have been to thirty of the forty-four American Presidents’ homes, tombs, and/or presidential libraries; even the homes of dutiful first ladies. We have come across larger-than-life heroes, brave pioneers, cultural icons, and lay and church leaders. I was inspired when we visited homes or museums of Americans who came to America and fulfilled their own dreams. Visits to the homes and tombs of literary greats gave me the nudge to start writing and maintaining a blog.

Authors' Ridge

We have been to the largest and the smallest of towns, the poorest of counties and the wealthiest of states, and everything in between. Some of America’s man-made structures and natural formations are among the tallest, biggest, longest, etc. in the world. There are those that you cannot find anywhere else. We visited factories of products made in America and noble institutions that serve the world. As a matter of fact, it was cool to read “A Quirky Tour of the US” in the Readers’ Digest July 2014 issue. We had been to three of the six suggested places. Come to think of it…I have slept in every single state.

My American education was an intravenous transfusion, not just an injection. I was forever changed. Travel made it all happen. I am no longer a Filipino tourist nor a permanent resident. I am not even just an American citizen. I am an American.

PINNABLE