I arrived at Detroit Metro, a little before 11am---a mere 7 hours before the big game between MSU and UConn. My father was picking me up at the airport so I could have lunch with him and my mother. The only obstacle between me and his car was immigration. The women who looked at my passport and asked me two questions. " Where are you coming from?" and "How long were you out of the country?" I take it that the answers, "Nairobi, Kenya." and "Over a year." are red flags because she immediately sent me to have my luggage hand checked. The two immigration officials doing the hand check were a great hoot. After answering their questions, the woman kept saying, "That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. Sixteen months?" The guy was a little bit skeptical. "What do you do for a living?" He went through the small backpack first and found one of my business cards that has my title as "world traveler" and my blog site. He went to the computer and pulled up my site. From that point on three of just talked about the trip and the line of people behind me became pretty long. Eventually, a very rude supervisor came over and chastised the guy for taking too long or something. I felt bad. It was pretty unprofessional of her to reprimand him in front of me. I apologized to him after she left but everything went back to stoic professional mode. No longer the fun questions and witty banter. Until the end when the supervisor came by, it was my favorite luggage search encounter of the 15 months. And trust me I had plenty of them.
I had lunch with my parents and we made plans for dinner the next day. My mother was the lucky beneficiary of my friend's generosity. She was excited that I was at home. She did mention to me, as only a mother could, that I should stay back instead of finishing the last seven weeks.
Michael Baird, the ring leader of my return, picked me up at my parents house and we worked our way down to the "D." We quickly checked into the hotel and made our way to where our friends were hanging out, The Detroit Beer Company. The funny thing was that the Beer Company was the official host bar for the North Carolina Tar Heels. As we walked into the bar with our Michigan State gear on, we received many stares and a few choice comments. I always know how to get a crowd on my side so when a group of guys were hassling us for being in "their bar", I told them "Hey we have a lot in common, we both hate Duke!" The guys roared in laughter and then they bought me a drink.
Over the next few hours, wave after wave of friends appeared---fraternity brothers, guys from the dorms, tailgating friends, my sister floor RA. It is hard to explain the emotions that I felt at being there surrounded by so many friends. I was a little overwhelmed by seeing everyone at one place. I was excited but at the same time it was so different being home. At points it was difficult to find things to say, not because I had nothing in common but there was so much going through my mind. My friend, DJ Hoffman, eventually called with the extra ticket and went over to the stadium to catch up with him, his wife and father-in-law.
Pictured: DJ Hoffman and me at the first game.
The game was incredible and though we had a solid lead for most of it, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never did and we won the game handily. I was hugging DJ at the end and tears were coming down my face, we were going to the Final Game. We didn't stick around for the second game but rather went back to the Beer Company to catch up with everyone. Of course, everyone was in great spirits and we celebrated late into the night.
The next day was one of relaxation. Michael's wife, Kelli, came downtown with their baby, Avery, for brunch. It is amazing what you miss when you are gone. It was my first time meeting my little "niece" and she was a cutie. Little Avery has a special place in the lore of Singh Around the World because she was conceived during the kick-off weekend for the trip in the Bahama's at the end of 2007. Later that evening, I had dinner with my parents, my brother, his girlfriend and my friend, Kim Field. After dinner, my parents joined a few other friends of mine for a drink.
Pictured: Singh Around the World Alum, Avery Baird.
Monday was finally here. The Final Game and before I would catch up with my friends, I decided to do some work to prepare myself for my role of consulting when I return. I had lunch with my friend and former boss, David Egner, at one of my favorite Detroit restaurants, Slows Bar-B-Que. We got caught up on the trip, nonprofit issues and the upcoming Detroit Mayoral election. We took a drive around the city and looked at a number of the exciting developments that are occurring in the city despite the economic recession.
After my lunch meeting, I caught up with a group of friends that were at the Detroiter Bar. It was the Hubbard/Akers Hall crew that calls themselves "The Family." We hadn't connected during the first game but it was now complete. I had seen everyone that was instrumental in bringing me home. Michael's wife had got us tickets for the Final Game as his early birthday gift and so we went to the game. Unfortunately, the results were very different from Saturday evening. North Carolina played out of their mind and soundly defeated us. Though we were disappointed, we were so proud of how the Spartans had done. The loss reminded me of the one we had in 1999 against Duke. I was disappointed but at the same time so excited for next year because we would be one of the top contenders for the championship. I think 2010 will be the year. Ten years since we last won and in the same city of Indianapolis, how could that go wrong?
It was a special treat to go home for this weekend. It reminded me how lucky I am to have made so many good friends during my time at Michigan State University. Coming home for the eighty hours or so that I was there made me excited to come home at the end of May. I am looking forward to getting back into the mix of things and more importantly catching up with my family and friends. To all of those that were involved, I want to thank you for making this happen. It will be one of the highlights of my trip but also of my MSU post-college experiences.
Pictured: Me and Michael Baird at the Final Game.
