The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good Things About Living Alone:

1. Dancing around the house to Fall Out Boy and no one to tell you to a) turn off Fall Out Boy and b) stop dancing because you are embarrassing them.

2.  Bodily noises and ejections are nothing to worry over unless they are coming from the dog.

3.  The television schedule is all yours - which means right now in my house a whole lot of hockey with the occasional dog show thrown in for good measure.

4.  No makeup?  No problem.

5.  Less undergarments than is ladylike at your age (during non-work hours of course)?  No problem.  The dog doesn't care.

6.  You want a chicken dish seven days in a row, and you want to burn that popcorn to the point where you think the smoke detector may activate?  Yum, sounds good.

7.  Your closet can be a total mess and as long as you can find what you're looking for, no one needs to know.

8.  Every little accomplishment, from successfully finding your way back from the grocery store, to finding an actual viable short cut there and back, is a bit sweeter because you did it all on your own.

The Bad Things About Living Alone:

1.  There is no one to wake you up when you fall asleep on the floor while cuddling with the dog and tell you to go get into bed.

2.  At some point in life, even women who are strong and independent in spirit (which I'm not necessarily saying that I am) must admit that they aren't completely that strong in body.  So, maybe those boxes of books for your daughter's room still sitting in the living room three weeks later are going to have to be unpacked first before they can be moved, and that's a real bummer because you still have to paint that room.  It would admittedly be so nice just to be able to have someone around who could lift them...

3.  There is no one to tell you that you really ought to think twice about dancing around the dining room to Fall Out Boy because people probably can see you from the window.

4.  There is no one to turn to and say, "Did you see that?" or "What was that?"

5.  There is no one to blame for the alarming consumption of Goldfish going on in your household other than yourself and, to a far lesser extent, your dog.

6.  There is no one to tell you that you probably ought to consider a bra, because your neighbors are really nosy.

7.  That decision you need to make - anywhere from the little things like, "Should I buy this tea kettle?" to "Do I spend the $400 to fix the kitchen sink"?  That is all on your shoulders.

8.  When you lock yourself out of the house, there is no one inside to let you in.

The Ugly Thing About Living Alone:

When the enormity of what you've done and why you've done it really hits you, there is no one to hold you and tell you things will someday maybe not be okay, but at least be bearable.