Living Alone

I heard a piece on the Today show yesterday (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/#46652960) about how 1 out of 7 people in the U.S. today lives alone. I thought of all the people I know who live alone--my Mom, my sister, my Mom's sister, several friends, and well, ME. My Mom has said quite emphatically she doesn't plan on getting married again. I can't quite say I'd go that far, but I haven't exactly found anybody out there that I'd even give a second glance, let alone a full-scale second look! Except maybe my Mom's gerontologist. Now there's a guy I could go for if he ever gets single again.

But I did get thinking about the advantages of living alone:

1. I can sing out loud all I want and nobody says, "Oh, please stop that!"


2. I can dance around the house or exercise whenever a good song comes on and nobody thinks I've gone totally bonkers.


3. I don't have to coordinate schedules with anybody.


4. I don't have to justify to anybody why I have a closet full of sock yarn that's yet to be turned into socks!


5. Nobody questions my taste in music or wonders why my Amazon Cloud Favorites includes everything from Frank Sinatra to Kitaro. And nobody complains they can't understand a word Julie Fowlis sings, cuz its in Gaelic.


6. I can watch NCIS on TV 24/7 and nobody complains.


7. Nobody can say NO if I decide to adopt yet another dog or cat. Not that I plan on it, though. Five cats gets you odd looks; six gets you called The Crazy Cat Lady.


8. The big yellow Labrador retriever CAN sleep in my bed, although honestly there's not enough room for the both of us in a twin-sized bed.


9. I can use up all the hot water in a super-long shower if I want to.


10. I can have dessert for dinner if I want to!

Am I ever lonely? Maybe just every once in awhile. Maybe every now and then I think it might be nice to have someone to come home to. But those feelings don't come very often or last very long. Quite frankly, I'm the best company I know. LOL! And as I've said in posts before, there's more to be done than I can ever hope to get done.

And the dogs make it ever so much easier. Now there's an "aloneness" I could never tolerate--to be without my dogs. I can't even imagine such a horrible thing. Certainly, I plan on outliving the three I have now. But there will be new dogs to raise, no matter how many years I may have left. That lesson was definitely reinforced by a friend who's in her mid-70s who got a new pup. If she can, I can!

Nope, I don't really expect I'll ever find anyone again who'd want to put up with all the craziness around here. And as each year alone passes, I get more and more set in my ways. I doubt there's a man out there could make me stop dancing through the house every time "Shall We Dance?" plays on my Favorites. So at least for the foreseeable future, I'll eat peach cobbler for supper, go for a walk or see a movie when I darned well please, watch what I want on the TV, and just live a happy, peaceful life with those of other species who choose to call my place home.