Denmark you make me smile and it feels so damn good.

Over the last 14 months, like so many of us, I’ve found it difficult to smile.

While the end of the pandemic is in view, we still find ourselves avoiding hugs and handshakes. Every cough or sneeze still comes with a sense of fear and dread.

As someone driven by purpose and while I accomplished what I set out to accomplish when I left my Ambassadorship - (Defeating Trump ) - I find myself anxiously searching for purpose and doubting myself in what seems like a whole new world.

And then work brings me to my home away from home where the sun unexpectedly shines on me for five straight days, where the spring flowers are in bloom and strangers on the street greet me with a warmth like I’ve never experienced -

- the Viking-looking man with a beard past his neck working security at the airport just now pulled out his iPhone and showed me a photo he took five years ago with me and Stephen and said “We miss you. Please come back.”

I head home now with great excitement to see Stephen, Argos and Svend... somehow knowing that brighter days lie ahead and with a smile like I haven’t had in a long long time.

Tusind tak Danmark. Jeg savne dig. Vi ses snart.