RIVER BEND - July 4, 2009, is a special kind of Independence Day for Margareta "Rita" Korzenkova Parker of River Bend - even more special than she imagined.

The floats and flags in the traditional small town holiday parade here have new meaning for her. It is the first Fourth of July she can wave the stars and stripes as a United States citizen.

The 36-year-old, dark-haired Russian beauty and mother of two took an oath on June 26 to "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same."

Along with about 70 other immigrants lined in neat rows of 10 each, she took the oath of citizenship at the new Immigration and Naturalization Service building in Durham while her husband of five years, Andy Parker, and family looked on.

Rita, the name she goes by as an adult, has one daughter, Aleina, 17, who came from Russia with her, and her son with Andy, Brian, 2 ½.

Andy is the son of Craven County Commissioner Renee Sisk, who said "we are so very proud of her."

Rita said she watched the emotion of many of those participating - mostly Arabs and Asians - excited and hugging, particularly a young Vietnamese woman with two small children who wept with joy.

And she was immediately pleased that the process to become a U.S. citizen was real and complete. It took about two months and gave her a first-hand encounter with some of the downside of being a citizen - the bureaucracy.

"I had to fill out a lot of papers and pay about $800," said Rita. The people were nice enough but "It's not free to become free."

Then, about 30 minutes later, after she got in the car and started toward home, "something changed. Yes, I felt more freedom. This is a young and powerful country. I look at the United States as a big experiment. Now I can do whatever I want."

Rita was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, a city "between Moscow and Siberia," and about the distance from here to Orlando, Fla., from each.

One of two daughters of a typical middle class family, Rita said her mother was a native Russian who managed in a large retail market, and her father was born in Poland and worked as a taxi driver. They remain in Russia, her mother still in retail management work and her father retired.

"I grew up in the '70s and there was still communism. It didn't work but it wasn't bad. We had free national health care, just not good care. We had money to pay the bills, but not have a house or vacations," said Rita.

"The schools were good and I can't say life was bad. We just didn't know anything about the rest of the world."

But Rita earned a university degree in English and worked as a Russian-English translator and when travel bans lifted, she vacationed, including in Spain where she met Andy, who worked there for the U.S. Navy and is now studying for a degree in computer science.

Her education in history and language also made some of the requirements of citizenship easier.

Rita moved easily through the interviews and easily passed the 15-minute test on June 23, correctly answering all of the first six of 10 history questions so she didn't have to answer the rest.

She said she knew a U.S. Senator serves six years and that there are nine U.S. Supreme Court justices, but was glad that "When is Columbus Day?" was the question to read rather than one to answer.

"At first I thought immigration made it too complicated and expensive," she said. "But citizenship is not a right, it's a privilege. Now I think they are absolutely right. You have to prove you want it. Nobody forces you to become a citizen to live here. You could live here the rest of your life with a green card. It's up to you. I had to work hard to get it."

Rita said she still has some paperwork to do, including at the Social Security Administration, applying for a passport so she can visit family, and, yes, registering to vote.

"I like the United States. I like being part of this experiment. I like having equal rights and responsibilities."

Sue Book can be reached at (252) 635-5666 or sbook@freedomenc.com.