Friends,

5 years ago, I was a 14-year old boy who had a dream of running a server that people could play on and enjoy. I wanted to be able to share things with players that I had made, and see them enjoy it. When I embarked on that journey, I never had the foresight to see my life for the next 5 years. I would have never known how many amazing connections, friends, and moments I have lived, experienced and shared over these years. I have made many contacts, traveled and met some of you, and continue to share a friendship with many of you.

Thank you. The past 5 years have been long, interesting, stressful, and amazing. I never thought I would find myself in a role creating what I have today. Smolderforge is something I am so proud of, and cherish very dearly. My friends, family, and acquaintances who are aware of what I do are fascinated and amazed -- as am I still. Somedays I will be making breakfast, stop, and suddenly think to myself, "Wait... I run a WoW server that thousands of people play on weekly... for over a quarter of my life." --- it's a lot to realize, and a lot of time to believe has passed.

I don't believe when I started I expected to continue to be running Smolderforge today; yet, here we are celebrating a milestone anniversary. FIVE YEARS. Thank you to everyone who has been with us all these years, new, old: you're all a part of this celebration. You have changed my life forever. Your interest in Smolderforge helped shape my future, given me an interest to pursue a software development career, interesting university application essays, stories, and much more. The amount of things I have learned is enormous; Smolderforge was educating to me, and I have obtained so many useful skills and knowledge from trial and error learning throughout all these years.

Thank you for the opportunity to share something special with you. Happy 5 years, everyone.