Final Days in Nigeria

Our last weekend in Lagos was fantastic. I was blessed with a “Bye Bye Baby” Shower from her friend. Monty got to hang out with some of his guy friends during that time. PLUS, we got to have an amazing Sunday brunch with our dear friend Bill. Today was my last day of work (hopefully for a long time!! Going on a long sabbatical, yay!)

As I have told some of my friends, there are definitely things about Lagos I’m NOT going to miss:
• The unpaved roads. Especially Thompson Road in Ikoyi. I have literally been counting the times that I have left to travel this road!
• The fumes (exhaust, diesel, fumigation, paint, smoke)
• The noise (honking, sirens, etc.)

But there are more things and *people* that I WILL miss greatly:
• Our church family at New Beginnings International Church
• My precious Ladies Evening Bible Study group
• The tropical rain storms (well, Monty isn’t going to miss that one)
• All of our interesting/diverse friends from work
• The challenge of the project
• Working together—commuting together, lunch together…getting to look over at Monty in the middle of the day and give him a wink & a smile when he’s having a rough day.
• My Water Aerobics Class—Keep up the good work Chika!
• Our Driver Saidu and steward Jacquie
• The hard-working, devoted women of the American Women’s Club
• The freedom of a life without house/car maintenance, chores, etc.
• Funny enough…I will miss the airports. Okay, maybe not Murtala Mohammed, but the other international airports that we have been fortunate enough to visit. I love airports. Maybe even more than I love hotels.

So yes, we are headed back to the U.S. But this is not goodbye. It’s merely “see you later”, as one of my dear expat friends likes to say.