I prepared for the last day of work with nothing but sadness. Because I was Canadian, my internship could only last a month before I had to return home. Had I been an American, I may have been able to stay several months without a problem and would have gladly done so. I arrived at work with no real work to do. There wasn't any time for me to start any new projects and I had completed everything else that I needed to do. So I spent the morning saying good bye to the new friends I had made (some interns going to the Focus on the Family Institute), some of the people who worked at Whit's End, and some of the other people I had met while working at Focus. In the afternoon I ate my final meal at Whit's End and then made my way over to Human Resources to turn in my ID. The woman there thanked me for my volunteering and gave me a great mug that said "Cream of Volunteer Soup" that resembled a Campbell Soup can, and a Focus on the Family 25th Anniversary book (which I very nearly bought the day before!). I then overheard on the intercom my name being called to come back to Audio Resources. So I made my way back and bumped into Jonathan Crowe on the way. We had a little chat and made our way to the offices where I went to my cubicle to drop off my gifts from Human Resources. Then Nathan told me to go to Paul McCusker's office where I found the Odyssey team holding a farewell party for me! Kathy, Rob, Jonathan, Marshal, Nathan, John, and even Dave Arnold showed up. The only one who wasn't there whom I had worked closely with over the entire internship was Chris McDonald, who had left Colorado Springs to go on a trip.

Nathan had been asking me random weird questions through out the day, like my favorite food or confirming my favorite AIO episode was in fact "Greater Love". I didn't realize it at the time, but he was quietly compiling a list of trivia questions to ask at my farewell party. So the event kicked off with questions to see which of the people on the team knew me the best. Some of the questions really surprised me, as I had no idea how Nathan knew so much about me. I later discovered he had been talking with my brother online and getting some juicy information I wasn't aware of. So while most of the crew had no clue what the answer really was, they took their best guess on the multiple choice questions. When it came down to my favorite episode, Rob made a comment that I wouldn't be so cliched as to pick "The Time Has Come". Fortunately for my reputation, that turns out to be my second favorite episode. In the end, it came down to a question between Rob and Kathy for the victory. Ironically, Kathy... the same person who didn't even know I was Shadowpaw and I rarely ever saw, came out the victor! It was great fun and we had cake and pop to celebrate my departure. Then John Fornof suggested we take a team picture. So he ran and grabbed one of the men from elsewhere in the department who agreed to take it for us. The team pictures turned out great and I was delighted to bring back such awesome photos of the Odyssey team standing together with me as an honorary guest.

As the day drew to a close, I was presented with yet more gifts. Chris and Nathan had warned me earlier in the week not to purchase Battle Lines which came out while I was working there and the team presented me with an autographed copy of the album! Jonathan also gave me an autographed CD of "Live at the 25!" with signatures from the people at the farewell. It was all quite overwhelming. I remember leaving work that day feeling incredibly sad that my journey was now over and I'd have to return to a normal life in Calgary, but happy at how great my final day turned out.

That night Nathan and I went to see "Jonah: The Movie" which had just opened up. It was funny seeing kids stare at his "Adventures in Odyssey" t-shirt and whisper amongst one another. For me, I've never met anyone who knew what Odyssey was... it's just my little secret. But here in the Springs, it's a cultural phenomenon! On the weekend, I got packing for my big departure on Monday morning and attended Holy Apostles Church one last time on the Sunday. I prayed with my host family before I left that Monday morning, then met up with Nathan so he could drive me to the Colorado Springs airport. We arrived an hour before my flight, but not realizing how tiny the Colorado Springs airport really is, I wasn't expecting to have to wait nearly 45 minutes at my departure gate anyway. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose. Though I was surprised at how different Calgary's airport security was when compared with Colorado Springs. For one thing, when I turned my camera and laptop on for them, they said it wasn't necessary. They even told me to keep my belt on when I began to take it off. Quite a contrast. Though, unfortunately for me, I inadvertently left my laptop on, so my layover in Denver was even longer this time around as I couldn't even use my computer!

It took the combined effort of a lot of people to make the trip possible for me and I'm very grateful for the experience. My parents for supporting my decision, Arlys the volunteer coordinator for bringing me on board, my host family for letting me live with them for a month, Marshal for allowing me to come and work with the team, as well as his wonderful family, John Fornof for his kind words and prayers, Jonathan and Rob for allowing me to get hands on experience with the production engineering, Kathy for the farewell cake and always being so much fun, and Nathan Hoobler for not only setting everything up but graciously driving me everywhere I needed to go. Without these people it never would have been possible and not nearly as much fun! And I hope you as a reader have enjoyed reading my Odyssey scrapbook... I just wish I could have shared it with you all sooner!