The weeks leading up to my departure from DC brought a myriad of emotions that I never thought I would encounter - the excitement of embarking on a new journey to a new country, the mystique that lied ahead as my new home and job awaited me, the difficulty in leaving behind a city, job, and friends that treated me well for over 3 years.
Thanks to Mike Keck and my best friends in the greater DC area I was able to leave the area in style with a night out at The Bottom Line. A fitting venue for a final night, The Bottom Line played host to our many summer afternoons after kickball games on The Mall during what would be many championship seasons for The Willows. After 2 kegs, many baskets of tater-tots, countless number of Flip Cup games, and $500 raised for Habitat for Humanity the night came to a close and with it my time in DC.
Never fully prepared for the day to come, I packed up all my belongings and left my good friend and roommate, Justin Brown behind. Sneaking out of town during the middle of the work day, I felt like a burglar making an exit calmly and unnoticed. Easy come, easy go.
The flight from Detroit to Guatemala made an overnight stop in Chicago, giving me 11 hours to enjoy one last bit of the US. Not one to relinquish a good opportunity to catch up with friends, I was taken in by Michigan alumni Ben Lubs and Shannon Kruger upon arrival to the city and immediately served a cold beer. Many drinks later paired with some friendly XBox Kinect competition, we met up with fellow Michigan alumni and good friends David Isabell, Mallory Van Putten, and Mike Isabell for more merriment at Fado Irish pub (which coincidentally is a chain pub that also has a locale in DC). Big brother Jason Emeott and girlfriend, Amisha Wallia, also joined for the last few beers as we closed the bar down. A few late night rounds of NBA Jam from 3 AM onward and I was back in a car on my way to the airport bound for Central America.
Stepping out of the airport in Guatemala City I fully expected to be left to my own devices and to soon be hit with the realization that none of this was real...that this idea of being offered a job with Habitat for Humanity was all a sham and that I had uprooted my life in DC prematurely and without just cause. In some sick, twisted way this was all just a joke to someone and maybe some day I was going to be able to look back on it and laugh at myself. Thankfully, my paranoia ceded and instead a nice young lady wearing a Habitat for Humanity shirt shouted out to me. Beyond the fact that I was white and stood at least a foot taller than anyone else, the look of confusion on my face was unmistakable and certainly gave me away. At that moment when we were united this whole crazy adventure began to become real...
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