Tuesday, July 31, 2007

FINLAND FINLAND FINLAND

Thanks D'Arcy and Monty Python for the title!

Well, where do I begin, on July 26th around 6:47pm my "gang" drove into my driveway, for our 14yr reunion, and a weekend I will NEVER forget!

I played host, D'Arcy played taxi, the three west coast Americans played "pay to drag your ass to Canada....what kind of holiday vacation resort is there in Canada?" and that is how this weekend came about!

A few years ago I had a moment....a moment where I wondered where all those close friends I had in Finland were, where were the people who made me who I am today; because although Finland changed me forever, I can dedicate a huge part of who I am to the people who I grew close to. Daphne from Philomath, Ismail from Eugene, Oregon, Monica from Angola, Indiana, and D'Arcy from Peterborough. BTW, these are not our cities we call home now, but how I remember them all!

They arrived, after 14yrs of being apart, and it was the most incredible weekend I think I will ever spend in my life!
We did NOTHING! And we were so happy to do nothing...well, we did sit on my back patio and watch the days go by as we hugged, cried, laughed, reminiced, and got up-dated on our lives!
Fourteen years....and there was a bond stickier than "pulla" that we cannot explain. D'Arcy said it best in her Blog; we grew up, we had kids, we came out, we loved, we lost, we never forgot each other.
After searching high and low for some of you, we came together. I THANK you all for making the journey, and I hope I made the journey worth while! My deal was, get your ass to Ottawa, I will do the rest! I did not want them to buy one once of alcohol or one gram of food while they were at my house, that was my promise, and I wanted to provide everything that they could imagine so that it would be memorable! I think we made it memorable!

So 14years have escaped us, but within 5 years we will all be together again....a promise we can not let go.

If you are ever fortunate to be an exchange student, please, do not forget the people who helped you along the way! I plan to visit my supporting Rotary Club to share this weekend with them and to let them know how much their generosity and belief in me as a student has changed my life!

Merci, Kiitos, Thank-you

2 comments:

D'Arcy said...

No, Darren, kiitos to YOU! Best host EVER!!!

Daphne said...

Totally! You are the best.