So when I wrote my post the other night about being so happy to be reunited with Tabuche, I should have also expressed that I was just as happy to also reunite with Lawrence.

As followers of my blog know, there are two very special men in my life here in Botswana. Tabuche only gets me for small portions of the day. Poor Lawrence is mostly stuck with me for about 9 hours of the day! So one could claim that he bears the brunt of Cheryl 😉 Now I know that he has your full sympathy.

Yesterday morning after being dropped off at my office, Mr Zimbabwe (aka Lawrence) strutted into the office looking very sharp in a new suit that he had purchased at home. I am not sure that I have ever remarked on the fact that Lawrence is a bit of a ladies man under the right circumstances. In fact, one day we were in a building for meetings and Lawrence disappeared out of the blue from the office in which we had just finished meeting. In searching for him, I found him directly across the hall at the reception desk of another office that also deals with HIV and AIDS issues. I can not possible tell you how much swaggering and charm were oozing from him as he happily flirted with the receptionist.  (oops! I think that he is going to kill me when he reads this) This was the first time I had seen him pour on the charm, not to say he isn’t charming almost everyday. However, I still tease him about it!

It was so nice to see him looking so happy and sharp. Others in the office frequently tease me that I reserve the happiest greetings for Lawrence and they would be right. In fact, it is them who started the competition between Tabuche and Lawrence by asking me who I like the best. As I have noted before that it is a completely unfair question and quite frankly, I am not giving up either one of them without a fight.

I was happy to know that Lawrence had such a great visit home to Zimbabwe although shortened because of work demands. Spending time with his family is incredibly important for him and I figure that the reason he assists me with some many personal things is because he knows exactly how it feels to live in a foreign country and have no one to count on. Well, I got really lucky because I have Lawrence.

While Tabuche chauffeurs me to and from work, Lawrence becomes my personal driver during the time as he is often required to either drop me off or pick me up from meetings. I always feel guilty asking him but he never makes a fuss about it. It is certainly not in his job description…in fact, he really doesn’t have a job description…which I am suppose to be sorting out for him. But he is the hardest working person in our office. He is responsible for our finances, he also does triple duty as just about every other role (IT, HR, Resource Mobilization, Monitoring & Evaluation, etc) I think you get the picture.  So to add Cheryl’s work driver on top of that you can understand why I feel so guilty.

Yet today was a perfect example. I spent the morning at WUSC for a meeting so I was dropped there by Tabuche. However, yesterday I had asked Lawrence if he could pick me up when the meeting was finished. Of course he said yes. So when Stephanie (another ODA) and I decided to have lunch together at an Indian restaurant a distance from the WUSC office, Lawrence didn’t even blink an eye when I asked him to pick me up there. In fact, at the set time he strutted into the restaurant to get Stephanie and I, gathered up my large pile of files and notebooks from the table and carried everything to the truck for me. Ah! What a gentleman!

So yes, I am happy to be reunited with Lawrence. He makes my day at the office so much better. We talk, we laugh, we giggle over music and lots of silly stuff. He is almost as silly as me at times. I am truly blessed because I get to work with him every single day. He is one of the smartest, nicest and silliest young men that I know. After corresponding with his mother over the holidays, I am now officially considered as his big sister and I am so very proud to be known as that!