2016...Ends

As I was reflecting on the year (2016)...these last couple of weeks...I couldn't help thinking it's been a great year, regardless of a few shortcomings here and there. And I'm hoping the year ahead has its own store of surprises, the good surprises though (let me clarify).

Granted I didn't get to go to Mauritius, with my love, to bask in a romantic resort and uuummph my brains out for days on end or get proposed to in Paris, one city I hope to live in some day...

But there were some good moments.

1. Getting to stay at Transcorp Hilton (Nicon Noga) on the company expense account...about 15 years since my last time. This time not as a law student but as a lawyer.

2. Going to negotiations in Abuja...back to back weeks in June. That was cool.

3. Going to CBN HQ for that one meeting at the start of the year...that was so dope. It made me have something to look up to. Government work is not all that bad.

4. Getting that Mac Air as a belated Xmas pressie...nice touch yo!

5. The trip to Benin was a nice touch too. Everything about it. Like a return to where it all started. Before that was Kano. First time going up to Northern Nigeria, realizing the folks there are actually pretty nice, warm hearted, not quite as materialistic as Lagosians.

The travel within Nigeria - my tour de Nigeria as I termed it  - connected me with my fatherland. I've done some travel internationally but not so much in Nigeria, even Africa. This 2016 gave me that opportunity to see my country and it felt whole. You can't love or rep a country if you don't know that much about it. 

But the very best moment of all in 2016 is being reunited with a city I love, a city I understand, a city that loves me as much as it wears me out. Lagos. All the trips I took to Lagos all year, hoping, praying and wishing upon a star that I could live here again, that I could leave that ratchet city Port Harcourt behind. Being able to close out the year by doing just that, living in Lagos, feels like a special present from God to Anita. I think about the awesomeness of this blessing atimes and it fills me with so much joy inside, I radiate - smile, laugh, burst out in hysterics, and 'thank you Heavenly Father' chants: Thank you Heavenly Father for saving me from that hot mess. 

That's been my year - Thank you Heavenly Father.

God and I have been through a lot this year, He's been not only my Father but my best friend and guardian angel. We've achieved a closeness that we once had and I'm glad we could rekindle. When you're single you end taking on your battles alone. That's one thing not many people realize. They give married people the praise etc, but the little people, the single people, we get to go through life's ups, downs, balancing our checkbooks, logging cross country, getting lost in a different city, having to find suitable accommodation, everything, every nick and nack, is done by our lonesome selves. All we do is say a silent prayer to the God who looks out for the single person and ask Him to shield us from this world's hurt and He always comes through. He always comes through. 

Tough times don't last, tough people do. 

Next goal is Love. L O V E.