For Thirty

Daybreak in Pommern - July 2008

Ten years ago tonight, my roommate Andy George & I had dinner at Outback Steakhouse near Country Road B & Snelling Ave in Roseville, MN. Returning to Manor House on Hamline's Campus, I walked in our room only to discover that it had been filled waist-high with balloons. Kinda feaky, kinda cool. . .

Even freakier and even cooler things happened as bodies starting rising up out of the balloons. My first thought was killer clowns but fortunately that was a fear was quickly alleviated as I began to recognize the faces of my friends. Apparently they had neglected to come up with a trigger word or action at which point they'd all jump up and yell 'SURPRISE!' Instead, I was treated to a slow-motion, semi-terrifying reveal that was shocking in its own right.

Thus started my twentieth year and a decade that has been full of its fair share of unexpected twists and turns. It began with Hamline and Waypost and Plays and Habitat. I landed an amazing, full-time professional job and as a result had the opportunity to work with hundreds of amazing indidviduals - despite having a muffin crumb lodged in my eyebrow. Four years there and now nearly four more in school . . . man, how the time has flown.

Then there has been the Globe Hopping, from the tropical island of Bali off to France, El Salvador and of course Afrika ya Mashariki - five times in the past seven years, simply unbelievable.  I've learned to speak in Indonesian and Swahili and through those languages been able to enter into lives and places I only dreamed of as an mtoto. 

And now I'm mzee - or a little bit closer at the very least. 

Thelathini. Tiga puluh. [I had to look this one up]

Thirty.

Not even a day into it and already this decade is off to a surprising start. There were no balloons or cake attached to this one. Instead it came in my e-mail inbox and began with the following phrase: "You have been offered an international Horizon internship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. . ." I had a hunch, a clue perhaps, but I am nonetheless floored.

The details at this point are still sketchy.

Much more is unknown than is known.

Where things go from here, Mungu tu anajua.

A new adventure is set to begin.

For this - for all of this,

For where I've been and for where I'm going,

For those who have and continue to accompany along the way,

I have nothing but gratitude.

For thirty

For now

For ever

I am grateful.