A World Away

It's been three insane, hectic and glorious weeks since I left New Jersey and though I've done this time and time again, I am never the same. I amaze myself at my ability to adapt to two distincly different worlds. Leaving the relative peace and calm of the developed world where infrastucture is a given and order is taken for granted. Where a single day can be planned weeks, even months in advance and technology literally moves at the speed of light. Into the developing world where organized chaos reigns, scheduling is futile and your day is shaped by whether the powers that be will give you electricity or not. Where traffic jams have no apparent cause and vehicles are besieged by hawkers and vendors selling everything from water baggies (pure water) to electrical heaters to womens' underwear.

But I love it, even thrive in it. There's just something about the sights, smells and sounds of Lagos (Nigeria) that puts me in a comfort zone like no other. Which is really strange because I'm not one to subject myself to anything other than a life of utter and complete, unabashed luxury (to the extent possible). But how can you not love a country where you can do all your grocery shopping in traffic; grease anyones palms to get anything; purchase, peel, dice and eat a pineapple right on the roadside; and bar hop or club until daybreak (alcohol included). Of course there are the tradeoffs...the scorching heat, sporadic electricity, questionable drinking water sources, horrific roads riddled with crater sized potholes and the constant fear that you might be robbed at any given moment. But there's also the warmth of friends and family, the constant socializing at endless events, and the often flagrant almost comical displays of accummulated wealth by the filthy rich.

Alas, all good things must come to an end right? I head out tomorrow. Back to the predictable, safe, haven of the developed world that I call home. It'll be cold now, frost most likely setting in most days. I'll settle down and dig in to work and school, fixing all the messes created in my absence and catching up with deadlines. The kids will be back in school and the hubby will resume his CT-NJ commute. But at least I'll have the memories of another wonderful vacation tucked safely away, to be retrieved on stress filled days and cold winter nights.

A mothers love?

It's amazing what we mothers do for our kids. I mean, the lengths I will go to to boost my sons' confidence, just really make him feel like he can do and achieve anything...it's really something else. I know that RR#1 is always striving to make me "proud". i mean really, Like when I pick him up at school, his teacher will tell me that after he completes a picture or some other creation, he always asks her if his mommy is going to be "proud" of him. I think it's so cute and utterly aware of him to understand the importance of making me "proud". Hopefully, this will be a characteristic he carries with him throughout life...propelling him to achieve great heights and become the amazing person I know he is destined to be (what? I just really love and believe in my kids...deal with it...lol!).

Anyway, back to his many "creations" at school. So RR#1 came home the other day, the proud bearer of handmade "gifts" for his mommy. Specifically, a glaringly colorful beaded necklace and butterfly hairpiece. Adorable to look at. Not so adorable to wear. But how do you tell that to a 4-year old who is looking at you as if he just gave you his kidney? And who says with all the pride and joy a 4 yr old can muster..."mommy, are you gonna wear it?". And I looked down at my little angel, all hopeful and prideful and I said what any good momma would say "Of course hun bun, I'm gonna wear it, I love it!" "Now?", he asked. "Now?", I repeated. "Yes, mommy, wear it now. Look it goes with your green shirt." "Ok", I replied, "ok, I'll wear it right now". I mean what else could I possibly have done? And you know what? It was so worth it to see my sons beaming face. To hear him point out to random people at the street..."look, I made it for my mommy." It also helped to dispel the looks of shock and disbelief I received as I blazed a blindingly colorful path around town...necklace and butterfly in tow.

Wigging out...

I'm going on vacation. Yup, three glorious, uninterrupted weeks of lay about-wake up when I want-bathe-don't bathe-eat-eat-eat-(did I mention eat?)-drop the kids off with the grandpas and the grandmas-and just generally relax-vacation. Anyway, since I'm going to an extremely hot and humid climate, I had to figure out what to do with my hair. I thought about braids but that would just be dumb. It would cost me about $120 to braid my hair here but if I braid in Nigeria...it's like $9. So then I thought...au naturale? Au hell no! Hmmm...a weave? Eh...I could take it or leave it but, I really do not want any of my hair out and I sooo detest that obviously stitched together enclosure I see on the crown of some of the more uncouth femme fatale who venture into the world of the un-beweavable.

So then I thought...wigs. Duh! And I remember a friend of mine saying she wears wigs all the time but she sews them on. Perfecto. I could buy a nice wig, sew it on and be done. It would have to be a really nice quality human hair piece, something I could tease and tangle and just have fun with. Not too long or too thick...a nice cropped, sexy angled bob would do. So I headed to the wig shop and dropped a grip on a cute two toned piece that almost fit the exact bill of what I was looking for. And then I went to the hair salon to get it sewn on and was informed it would cost me almost twice what i paid for the freaking hair. Oh no she didn't. So yours truly, as industrious as ever decided to take a first hand stab at it and sew it on herself (I'm funny like that, I'll spend a grip on an item and then cheap out on labor...I'm kind of a do it yourself gal).

Well here is the finished product, not too shabby if I say so myself, in fact I'm quite pleased considering I haven't even attempted to style it yet...waddya think?