I don’t know any married woman who doesn’t enjoy a couple of days alone. We love our husbands and would be devastated without them, but marriage is a give and take and women tend to give A LOT! So when we get a few days to ourselves, we eat what we want when we want. We read in the middle of the day, we go to bed at odd hours and do all of the things we are more careful about when trying to share a home with another human being. We can sing at the top of our lungs or go a whole day and never say a word.
Last year, Tim and Jon went to the races and left me alone for 5 days. The day before they left we had a terrible storm and a huge tree fell on the house. We were fortunate to get things taken care of quickly and I assured the guys I would be fine, they needed to just go anyway. And they did. The day they left I dropped a 10 pound weight on my toes and one was clearly broken (I snapped the bone back straight and taped the toes together-and yes it hurt! I was terribly bruised and it still hurts when I dance.) The next morning I got a call from Jon that he was following an ambulance that Tim was in because he fell and tore his knee up. They could not change their flight so they had to stay where they were for the full 5 days. Each day of those five days it stormed in Birmingham and I spent big portions of the days wandering from window to window, looking out to make sure no other tree had fallen. I never dressed the entire five days, barely ate and limped around the house like a mad recluse waiting for the next disaster. It was awful.
Now, a year later, Jon has moved out, a new tree has been planted, Tim has had surgeries and therapy on his knee and I am no longer afraid every time it rains. Tim was scheduled to go with the youth from church for a five day camp on St. Simon Island. I was so ready to enjoy some R and R. Sleep late, eat at my leisure, read and watch movies. I scheduled activities including dinner with my son Jon on Thursday just to keep from being a total shlub. Wednesday I worked out, read, did some yard work and moved more furniture than Atlas Van Lines did that day! I then ate an early supper/late lunch, bathed and watched TV until bed time.
On Thursday I got a facial, had a voice lesson and then met Jon for dinner. It was a great day! I got home and watched TV until late, then slept like a rock. On Friday I woke up and thought -today is wide open! I did some more yard work, read a bit and watched some TV but by mid afternoon I was kind of bored. Now I never get bored! How could anyone be bored with all of the books there are to read and and movies to see and projects to work on, not to mention housekeeping, yard work, and exercising. But for some reason I was bored. I looked at magazines and decided to eat my dinner early again. I heated some leftovers and as I ate, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, eating leftovers at the counter in my gym shorts and a t-shirt. I picked up my phone and sent my friend Stephen a text. “How about dinner tomorrow night at Bottega?” He lives in Athens, GA so I knew he couldn’t do that, but it was funny to ask. He comes back with “Give me an hour and I will let you know.” Next thing I know he is planning to come to Birmingham the next morning and we are planning to shop, visit some people, and then have dinner out. He planned to stay for church Sunday morning, lunch and then head back. I thought, “But what about my quiet time? Sleeping late, contemplating life, reading and such?”
Sometimes you are in the mood for that, need that time, have to have that solace. Sometimes you need a martini at Chez Fon Fon and a friend to gossip and laugh with. This weekend I guess I needed the latter! We had a blast, visited, shopped, went to see Jon’s apartment, went out for dinner, watched the Olympics and then today went to church and to lunch before Jon headed back to his place and Stephen went back to Athens. I am now alone but eagerly anticipating Tim’s return in the next few hours. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood for alone time like I thought I was. Or maybe when I saw myself eating at the counter Friday night I saw a lonely, sloppy old lady and her cat eating leftovers and it scared the hell out of me! I relived for a brief moment the year before when I went a little nuts and decided I needed to be out in the world.
So I learned the same lesson in a different way from the kid in the movie Home Alone. Sometimes it ain’t all it is cracked up to be!
