This sand box is big enough for all of us

Branden here:

I want to start by saying hello to all my family and friends who are back home in the states.  Thank you for all your support and I am looking forward to coming home and seeing you all soon, especially looking forward to walking down that terminal.

Many have asked what this experience is like in Saudi Arabia, what are you doing, and why.  I laugh because I remember at the beginning of this week I was talking to my father on the phone and he said, “I am sure it is a lot of fun.  My favorite thing when I was a child was playing in my sandbox in the backyard with all the trucks moving the sand and dirt and building things with my friends.”  Although it has been a week since he told me this, it has been replaying in my mind all week.   I thought about what he said, I can compare this common childhood memory that many of us valued so greatly directly with my experiences here in the Middle East.  The Middle East is like a giant sandbox, a very big one with many projects, sand moving equipment, and friends.  See just as my dad did as a child the people here in the Middle East are doing it to advance their cities and to build infrastructure for their futures.  And who are the friends you might ask? Well, the friends are people from all around the world who come here for work to support their families and search for new opportunities.  Just like my father welcomed his friends to his sandbox, we have been welcomed as well and have been given an experience that none of us will ever forget.  The people are genuine and always willing to reach their hand out to another friend and welcome anyone through their doors.  

Only a few more days left here on this Global Construction Management journey though the Middle East.  I have learned more than I could have ever imagined, met people who have impacted me in more ways than one, and seen things that many only dream of.  I am truly grateful for all those relationships that have grown in this journey and I hope to keep in touch with everyone.  For the four other gentlemen who have made this journey with me I want to thank you for all the great times, laughs, memories, and heart-to-hearts.  This trip would not have been the same without all of you.  I am glad we have a few more days to make a few more, this is not goodbye, but onward with the next part of our journey though the Middle East. 

And right now I say goodbye from Dubai.

Branden