The Day I Got My Citizenship Photo Wrong

At my naturalization ceremony this spring, I was so excited I put my tie on inside out. Nobody told me until after the photo.

There I am in the official picture, holding my certificate and a little flag, grinning ear to ear, with my tie backward and the tag showing. My wife says it's the most honest picture ever taken of me.

The ceremony was beautiful. Seventy-one people from thirty-eight countries. A judge who teared up while she spoke. A little boy in the front row who waved his flag so hard it hit the man next to him in the face, and the man just laughed.

Afterward, we went to a Lebanese restaurant with my whole family and ordered everything on the menu. My son wore my tie, right side out, and gave a toast. The photo hangs in our hallway. People always ask about the tag. I always tell them the whole story.