Dear diary,

Today I leave Porto with lots of unfinished business. I expected this trip I would get settled into my apartment and have 6 weeks of stress free nesting, but from day one was met with problems and issues that will require more visits, more repairs, and more worry. I came to “finish,” to put a period behind over a year of living out of suitcases and Airbnbs and put things where I wanted them. I expected more, and it didn’t come in the way I imagined.

I expected a home no issues, I received a home in a fabulous neighborhood with amenities most would wish for. I expected lazy days reading books and nestling in bed, I received early morning wake up calls from sea gulls and daily hands on tutorial of navigating beaurocracy, long hold times, and the constant reminder that patience needs to have her perfect work in me. After some internal wrestling, I finally came back to a simple saying on a plaque I bought years ago “Exoect Notjonh?