How to Survive the Holidays and Even Enjoy them as a Singleton (part 2)

Well, I’ve more or less survived both the poorly timed work trip and Christmas with only minor emotional scars. Now it’s on to that one holiday of the year that more than any other can bring me to my knees and curl me up in the fetal position, rocking back and forth, wondering will I be a singleton for the rest of my life???? That’s right it’s almost New Year’s Eve!

Note: I do not count Valentine’s Day as a holiday—more as a tragic day that has been throttled by commercialism which sucks so bad when you’re not dating anyone that I’ve contemplated sealing myself up in my house like Ms. Haversham. But that’s another breakdown for another day, for now I’m going to try to come up with some hints on how to survive New Year’s Eve.

First of all, if you have recently gone through a breakup or just have been alone long enough and still not deleted your ex’s phone numbers from your mobile, delete said numbers, have someone babysit your phone for you, or set up some type of breathalyzer so that you cannot get hammered and call up/text your ex in a poor emotional state. Sad to say, no one gave me this advice many moons ago when my ex had dumped me 2 weeks before Christmas (or as my dim memories are suggesting, I was able to run past a friend who tried to stop me by locking myself alone in her bedroom with my mobile) so that by the time I got to New Year’s Eve it’s a miracle that I only tearfully called him a little less than a dozen times.

Second of all, much like with weddings, Christmases, and other celebrations, please remember that New Year’s Eve—no matter how tough it is to take—is only just one day. It can never be as wonderfully exciting as you think it should be, nor will it be your undoing.

Third of all, while you shouldn’t dread the day for weeks in advance, you should come up with some sort of plan or options for how to survive it and maybe even enjoy it. Right off the bat I will recommend NOT attending some big party where the majority of people will be couples as when midnight rolls around and you are the only person not smooching someone else, things could get desperate either in the form of you kissing someone that you would never in your right mind kiss the rest of the year OR you could end up running out of the room sobbing/screaming into the night.  If you are unsure of the ratio of couples to singles, make sure to ask the host. If they are your true friend, they will understand and not be offended if upon hearing that every other person is a part of a half you decline their kind invitation.

So what can you do to actually enjoy the evening? For the past several years my New Year’s Eves have been awesome as I have spent them with a close friend whose husband is an emergency room doctor and subsequently is usually working all or part of the evening. This means that she and I go out on the town to new restaurants and bars, enjoy some excellent food and libations, and crash at one of our casas. Also because we both have dogs and they are pretty much in love with each other, we would bring my dog to her house or vice versa depending on where we were crashing. The result was we got to have fun, the dogs had fun, and no one had to rush home to walk their faithful canine.

One of the best of such New Year’s Eve was spent at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant in Baltimore within view of the harbor and the fireworks. There was tons of food, bottles of champagne, and belly dancers who sometimes danced around with swords on their heads. The crowd was a great mix of groups of friends, families, and couples. And for some reason, my friend agreed to be the designated driver so I got to fully enjoy the bubbly and then when we made it back to her casa we had some more bevvies to properly ring in the new year.

Sadly for me, but happily for her, that all changed last year when she was preggers and wanted to do a couples weekend thing with her hubs and now that she is a new mommy with lots of family responsibilities, we don’t really see each other much. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy for her and her husband, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little sad to lose one of my most constant shopping partners, new restaurant testers, travel companion, and New Year’s Eve concelebrants.

Last year I went to the Kennedy Center to see “South Pacific” with a single male friend. This friend is really not a night owl (or someone who routinely stays up past 9pm), so I was poking him awake by the second act and was unable to convince him to stay at the Kennedy Center for the midnight toast and party, but it was still a great evening. 

I was at a bit of a loss as to what the hell I was going to do come New Year’s Eve this year, but thankfully some of my awesome DC pals have come to the rescue finding lots of non-couply activities for the day. I’m going to join them for a fun scavenger hunt during the day and then since I was unable to procure dog care for my four-legged soulmate, the evening will find me coaxing him out of the corner he is sure to hide in when the fireworks start. I think it’s a great way to ring out the old year by running around Virginia searching for clues and prizes with some seriously fantastic ladies and then return home to the best and most constant male in my life. Unlike years past, my New Year’s Eve plans this year ensure that I will not overindulge in the libation category and make much regretted phone calls/texts/decisions and that I will be feeling great and non-hangovery come New Year’s Day so I can start 2012 with a clear head and maybe in spite of all the craptastic dates and let-downs, I can even begin the year with a heart filled with hope of better things to come in the year ahead.

No matter what you do, make sure you let yourself have fun and don't think about what you don't have - concentrate on what you do have. Just stay safe and keep others around you safe. A lot of cities have free taxi service but if yours doesn’t, make sure you figure out a designated driver, bus, subway, or some other form of sober and non-texting form of transit.

How to Survive the Holidays and Even Enjoy Them as a Singleton (part I)

One of my favorite films, Jodie Foster’s “Home for the Holidays,” was filmed in my own hometown of Charm City and there is a quote in that movie that seems especially applicable to the plight of the singleton during the holiday season. The line was delivered by the late, great Anne Bancroft when describing what she was thankful for during her family’s Thanksgiving celebration: “I’m giving thanks that we don’t have to go through this for another year. Except we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to punish us.”

Now let me state for the record, particularly to any of my wonderful family members who may be reading this post, the above quote and this post in general are not reflective of our recent celebration of Thanksgiving which was wonderful and remarkably free from conflict. Not to say that all of our holidays have been similarly fun and non-combative, but this past one was pretty swell.

But in the hustle and bustle of preparing for the holidays, I am unavoidably exposed to scenes of parental bliss as my friends’ kids start being extra good in case Santa is taking notes. That sometimes gets to me as do the scenes of yuletide romances largely from holiday movies and commercials. You know the type, like a commercial for a jewelry store with a couple snowshoeing to a picturesque cabin in the woods and they happen upon a Saint Bernard and tied to his collar is a spectacular diamond ring. Or one of the standard plot lines of cheesy made for television holiday movies that I can’t seem to stop watching, where inevitably the plucky and yet confused single gal snags a man over the course of a few days in December.

In that spirit, I thought it might behoove me to think up some helpful hints for singletons attempting to enjoy the holidays (as I did with singletons attempting to enjoy weddings, parts 1 and 2). First of all, as with the weddings, don’t think of the holidays as something to survive. Although the hellish sprint for the finish line can have you cursing at random strangers in the mall as you attempt to grab the one remaining present that doesn’t suck, the holidays aren’t supposed to be about that. The period from Thanksgiving through Christmas (I’ll save New Year’s for later) can be a wonderful time. Gatherings with friends and family, the crackle of leaves underfoot, the smell of a fireplace, hot cocoa, and those songs that everyone can sing along to – these are things to be treasured.

Secondly, don’t think that just because your friends are not of the singleton variety that their holidays are like a series of festive Christmas cards, complete with carolers, cookies, and cherubic children. Sadly the holidays can be stressful for almost everyone. Children aren’t always on their best behavior, even when you assure them that Santa is trained like a heat-seeking missile on their every move, waiting to put them on the naughty list. Spouses aren’t always thoughtful or romantic and with the wrong spouse or partner, it’s far better to be the one singleton at the Christmas party. While I once found short-lived romance at a Christmas party, I always find that if I manage to get over being alone at holiday soirees, I can have enough fun to laugh myself silly.

Third, do something kind for someone else. In fact, do that as much as you can and not just during the holidays. It sounds hokey but it’s true—volunteering your time and talents in the service of others can be as wonderful for you as it is for them. My role model in this, and in so many other things, is my sister. I don’t think a day goes by when she doesn’t help at least one person. In addition to keeping yours truly sane, she volunteers at her church garden, the food pantry for the hungry, the children’s hospital, and does so much for all of our family that it’s a wonder she has time to do anything else. While I can’t compete with her record of service, I find that when I volunteer at the nursing home or go see the children at the hospital, it makes it easier to see the miracles in life and much more difficult to complain about my own troubles.

Fourth, spend actual quality time with your family and friends. I don’t mean the obligatory dinners where you grimace your way through the meal, exchange a few pleasantries, and go on about your lives.  I mean, hop in the car with a few of them and check out Christmas lights. Grab some of them and bake some cookies. Go to your little cousin’s holiday play, check out a concert, do whatever, but take some time from the running around and craziness, and savor the company of family and friends.

My favorite festive traditions past and present include:

• Christmas shopping, kettle corn munching, and Cracker Barrel visiting with my sister, cousins, and niece at the Maryland Christmas festival
• Willingly and joyfully locking myself in the car with a sibling or two or more and careening through the decorated streets, caroling tone deafly into the night
• Making excessive amounts of peanut brittle with my sister and niece, to the point where, much to our dogs’ joy, we are covered in a fine layer of peanut dust and sugar
• Going to mass Christmas Eve with my parents, aunt, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. I used to play the flute at these masses when my grandfather was still with us, and now I still sit in wonder at the harpist or violinist or the seniors’ bell choir, and how we started the service in darkness with only candles lighting the way.
• Riding in a Honda civic driven by a clown (sister), with Santa (brother) in the passenger seat, and surrounded by fellow elves (niece and friend) through the streets of Baltimore to visit the wonderful children at the hospital and seeing people’s faces when they see the menagerie of characters smushed in the car
• Decorating the church where my parents were married and us kids were baptized, with siblings, nieces, nephews, and my dad hanging holly, arranging rows of poinsettias, and setting up the Nativity scene. Especially the time when we couldn’t find the angel and had to check every confessional, nook, and cranny, and run through the church basement exploring the mysteries of the parish. And changing the dress of the Infant of Prague statue, sometimes with the clothes that were made by our grandmother
• The annual Christmas brunch with my three best friends from high school, complete with pictures, presents, and a little bit of the bubbly. Husbands and kids get added into the preview but the main event is still sitting and chatting with these girls who have known me forever
• Decorating the tree with my parents, when both were in healthy body and spirit, and how they always got me a new ornament each year. One year it was a tiny basket of plums –those were my favorite fruit at the time—and another year it was a mini grand piano
• Seeing my beloved canine happily tearing into his presents, fluff everywhere, while simultaneously attempting to shake the Santa hat off his head
• Breakfast Christmas morning with my neighbors as we fortify ourselves for family gatherings and running hither and yon, and my neighbor usually makes an extra pancake for the dogs
• Watching “White Christmas” for the hundredth time with a couple of the wackiest gals this side of Pine Tree, Vermont. This tradition includes multiple holiday beverages, a 2 foot tall animated Bing Crosby doll purchased for me by those same ladies, and focusing on/ridiculing selected movie cast members.

With this in mind, I must call it a night as I have to be at the airport at an ungodly hour tomorrow (driven of course by my wondrous sister). Hopefully by the time I get back from this rather poorly timed work trip, I’ll think up a few ways to survive New Year’s, but if you have any tips to offer, please do as I’ll take all the help I can get.

Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater

During this time of sappy holiday movies, I had to arm myself with a healthy dose of cynicism or I won’t make it through Thanksgiving let alone through New Year’s. Yes, the holidays can be an especially rough time of year for all types of people, not just singletons, but as a chronic singleton, I must say that a lot of the holidays seem designed to have a person’s non-plus-one status make that person rock back and forth in the fetal position, shotgunning whipped cream straight from the aerosol can.

In order to combat the idea that being with anyone is better than being alone, I will touch upon one of the many--nay, metric buttloads—of examples of why this is patently untrue. Sadly enough, one of these comes from my own hometown of Charm City. A native son of Baltimore developed an app that helps people cheat. Sadly, when searching for the details on this cheating app, I found even more examples of infidelity being glamorized in the form of websites where customers can meet plenty of cheating wives, husbands, etc. But let’s get back to that app – it lets users hide texts, phone calls, and voicemails from specified numbers in your contact list. The developer of the app says that not all people that download it use it to cheat and that it can actually facilitate communications that can help save a relationship. Seriously.

In keeping with the theme, a friend said I could relay some of her recent encounters with gentlemen who probably could have benefited from using the app. First off, a guy who was a friend with benefits (FWB) type that she had reconnected with via email and was planning to meet up and maybe go on a trip together. The FWB swore that he wasn't seeing anyone else, but my friend was more than a little doubtful that this was the case. Now, FWB was either a complete moron or was trying to break off a relationship, as when he emailed my friend to plan for their trip he sent the email to both my friend and his girlfriend. Oops! The girlfriend quickly responded back to both my friend and FWB saying that she guessed she wasn’t supposed to see that.

Then the next day, the girlfriend sent one of the classiest and iciest emails I’ve ever seen. My bumbling attempt to recreate it will in no way convey how cool this email was. Basically, the girlfriend addressed the FWB (and cc’d my friend) and indicated that she was happy to inform him that his schedule would be free to take the planned trip with my friend, as the girlfriend would no longer be available to travel with him. But she did it in such a manner, where all the etiquette advice columnists would have found favor with the professional and cordial nature of the wording, at the same time so completely decimating the FWB. I pictured her typing out the words, perhaps wearing elbow length gloves and smoking a cigarette from one of those fancy holder thingies, and maybe wearing a hat that partially obscured her eyes. Then she clicked send and went on about her life.

Not too long after this incident, my friend had started chatting with this guy from her gym. Like most singletons, she checked to see that his ring finger was bare, and then they started emailing. They were just about to meet up for coffee and non-gym interaction, when instead of receiving an email from him confirming the time and location, she received an email from his wife saying that if she wanted to go out for coffee, it would have to be with the wife and his child. My friend was shocked and guessed that his wife must have been checking his email. What is even more ridiculous is that a few weeks later, the guy actually had the nerve to email my friend again to see how she was doing.

Now I’ve been approached by guys that I thought might actually have been married before (see Is a Picture Still Worth 1000 Words IfTaken with a Cell Phone Camera?) but I’ve never been confronted with actual proof in the form of a living, breathing, and raging spouse. That’s why my policy is never to contact or respond to a message from guys on dating websites who don’t post their picture because they are likely not posting pictures to prevent their spouses and significant others from finding them on said dating sites, but sadly there’s no way to be sure.

Enter a fantastic, and probably highly impossible/illegal, idea that was thought up by yours truly and one of my best friends from high school. We wanted some way that married men would find it impossible to remove their wedding rings. I don’t think there’s an app for that yet, but here were the following options we brainstormed:

1. When the guy tries to remove his ring, there’s an effect like when you try to steal money from a bank –namely, an exploding dye packet permanently marks his entire ring finger purple.
2. When the guy tries to remove his ring, sirens wail and maybe some sort of flashing light – kind of like the sound that British cop cars and ambulances make.
3. When the guy tries to remove his ring, there is some sort of chemical that is injected into his bloodstream that either makes him unconscious, writhe in pain, or impotent.

Unlike our other idea (the “I-Heard-You-Got-Knocked-Up Bucket,” complete with candy, hair ties to hold your hair back, and the bucket receptacle for when you’re feeling nauseated), we never did build a prototype for the Cheat the Cheater app. This is probably not a bad thing, as we would probably be involved in multiple lawsuits by permanently disfigured cheaters.

With the sounds of a sappy holiday movie playing in the background and with my full intentions to subject myself to the latest installment of the Twilight saga if I can get past the screaming hordes of teenagers, I must bring this post to a close. For try as I may to focus on the dukes of douchebaggery that seem to number in the millions, this is one of those times when I’m feeling more like a mushy, (emphasis) hopeless romantic than a cynic. I think it’s best to be somewhere in the middle: not so naïve that you are unaware of signs of potential sliminess, but not so doubting that you’re skeptical of the extracurricular activities of every happy couple you see.

The Secret Life of Old People

When I heard that Andy Rooney had passed away yesterday, it made me think: most of my friends and acquaintances are up to their eyeballs in babies and children. They’ve got doctor’s appointments and playdates, dance classes and soccer games, carpools and story time. I, on the other hand, am awash in senior citizens. It makes sense I guess, since I’m the youngest of six and my parents were in their 40’s when I was born, that my parents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives would just be older.

I think that makes me notice older people more. Like the older guy I wrote about who walked back and forth on the same stretch of sidewalk or the residents Charlie and I visit at the nursing home (see My Latestand Greatest Fear and For Better orWorse). But like most young-ish people pondering the lives of older people, I usually get it wrong. Like that same guy walking on the sidewalk—I thought that he just walked back and forth for like 20 minutes and then called it a day. But in later weeks I saw him a bit earlier than normal time and discovered that he also does this warm up marching with knees high in the air. And then when I was out driving by a little later one morning, I saw him jogging farther down the street at a pretty good clip.

And one of the residents at the nursing home who always seemed like a somewhat sad and quiet lady who likes to sit outside in the sunshine when it’s not too cold, I just assumed she had been a housewife who outlived her husband. I had no idea that she had been the first female editor of the newspaper in her hometown in Arkansas and had traveled all throughout Asia.

Then there’s the guy who’s about in his mid-50’s that I usually see walking around the condos about a block from my house. He is always walking with this older Japanese lady who I’m guessing is his mother– they walk about the same time every afternoon. They love Charlie – except when he’s encountering one of his sworn canine enemies and his barking a little too loudly. But normally, she loves to stop and pet him. After we make a little conversation, the man always thanks me for stopping and chatting with them. I think it’s wonderful that he walks with his mother, helping her to get exercise and spending time with her. But I really don’t know anything about them and I think that whatever I guessed would probably be the wrong story.

I won’t even get started on the secret life of my parents or I will have to gouge out my own eyes and run screaming from the room. It’s enough to say that sometimes when my siblings and I get upset because our folks haven’t left the house or gotten dressed for days, well, sometimes they might not be sleeping the day away. There are six of us kids so I guess we should have realized that sort of thing could still be going on, but you just don’t think about it when your father has Alzheimer’s and your mother is composed largely of bionic parts.  Gah. Must stop thinking about this now. GAH!!!

Anyway, I’ve just been thinking that my life is on a different track than most of my friends. The only person, aside from my sister, that I’ve really been able to talk about how things are with my folks –like really talk and know that she gets it because she’s going through the same things—is my friend Gigi, who is actually the mother of my best friend from high school. We had dinner the other week and it was really great to be able to talk about what was going on with my parents (not the stuff from above), the way things veer wildly from the difficult to the hilarious. Like how my mom sometimes calls me at work with assorted emergencies, such as that she and my father have run out of hominy or the television isn’t working right.  Or last week when my mom was so enchanted by a video of a friend’s baby on Facebook that she tried to hug the screen. This was after she had shouted that I was trying to kill her by making her look at too many choices of curtains during our online shopping adventure –my mom is a bit of an Internet novice. Or the crazy hard times like trying to walk with my dad only to have him almost fall over repeatedly, he was so unbalanced.

I’ve been thinking so much about all of this lately that I haven’t really kept up with my writing. And I haven’t really given much thought to getting “back out there” and giving online dating another try. Even here, the senior have me beat as I just heard this week of an online dating service exclusively for older adults. I wish them luck and hopefully less crazy dating stories than I experienced. Then again, even though none of the matches worked out, I will say that almost all of them were wildly entertaining so maybe it wasn’t such a loss after all.

So the next time you see a senior citizen, pause for a moment in your hectic daily life. Maybe even stop for a chat. If we’re lucky, some day that will be us –as they say, old age sure beats the alternative. And while I’m getting ready to be a curmudgeon even now, muttering angrily about those kids in front of my house with their loud music, I hope that when I’m truly a curmudgeon, some crazy 30-something nut will take the time to talk with me and find out a little about my life. I’m going to sign off now so that I can finish cleaning and maybe even work a little on my book. I will try mightily to resist the temptations of the 24/7 holiday movies currently featured on the Hallmark Channel (see Hapless Holidays for more of my weakness in that area).

A Prologue, of Sorts

I have never been the sort of girl to have a serious boyfriend or even a string of non-serious boyfriends.  You know that girl, the one who’s always in a relationship or in and out of a relationship.  I’m the other sort, the sort that’s always on her own.  I have serious and extended crushes of a painful nature, where I agonize about the guy but am too afraid to make a move or when I do make a move, it goes horribly wrong and unreciprocated. 

I remember my first serious crush; I liked him for years, literally years.  As soon as I laid eyes on him, I was in a swoon. Even though I was only in the 2nd Grade I was sure this was it. All the girls were – he was freakin’ adorable.  Four years later, upon learning that he was leaving my school to go to a different middle school, I was so bereft that I engineered an “end of year” party at my house solely for the purpose of cornering him in a game of spin the bottle.  Of course it didn’t work out that way, but I remained undeterred and when we met again at some point in high school, I actually got up the nerve to ask him out and he said no.  

As I re-read these words, I sound like quite the little creepy stalker.  There were guys that I “went out with” in middle school while I was waiting for my crush to realize we were made for each other.  This was when “going out” didn’t mean that you actually went anywhere with the guy, just that everyone knew that you were spoken for and you might stand next to each other at one of the middle school dances.  There were really just two of them – one who got me a potted geranium and a pair of clip-on earrings for my birthday (which I think I may still have somewhere) and another who asked me for a poster of Paula Abdul for Christmas as she was “totally hot.”

And of course there was my prolonged obsession with Joe McIntyre of the New Kids on the Block. Sigh. You could tell the depth of my devotion by the lack of wall space in my bedroom NOT covered by pictures of him or the rest of the band. I begged my dad to take me to my first concert to see them at Merriweather. Before his Alzheimer's really started to eat away at his memory, my dad used to love to tell the story. He said that he stuck napkins in his ears, laid down on the ground watching the planes flying overhead, and pretended that he wasn't surrounded by thousands of screaming girls and that his own beloved daughter wasn't acting like a lunatic.

A few months later, my sister kindly and foolishly agreed to escort me to their concert at Baltimore Arena so my dad's eardrums could continue recovering. I dressed up for the occasion, sporting my best tapestry vest and wearing my NKOTB earrings. Thankfully there are no pictures to record that special moment. We were seated up in the nosebleed section, but still I was so certain that he was staring at me and singing "Please don't go, girl!" and that this was a sign that we would be together forever. I tried in vain to convince my sister to go hang out in the soundproof parents' lounge. I think she suspected my plan of hurling myself at the stage, giving Joe my phone number and promising to love him forever.

A chubby and bizarre girl who liked school and was dubbed more than a little weird, I made my way through some extremely awkward middle and high school years.  I attended a single-sex high school which meant that most of the time if I wanted to go out with a guy I was going to ask him out or at least make some effort to throw myself into his path.  This along with my looks and general lack of self esteem meant that I didn’t have a whole lot of boyfriends. 

My first semi-serious boyfriend probably didn’t realize that he was in fact my boyfriend as he turned out to have quite a few other girls in tow.  I think we technically only dated for about a month and then were on-again/off-again as he attempted to parlay that into something akin to friends with benefits. The thing I remember about him most was that he thought his car key should be able to open up my car as we both drove 1988 Chevy Novas (and repeatedly tested this theory over two years in spite of all facts to the contrary).

My second semi-serious high school boyfriend definitely thought we were an item.  He was fun and sweet and a little too serious which freaked me out as I was preparing to go to college and he still had two more years of high school.  Maybe even then I was destined to be a cougar.  The death knell sounded when he spent entirely too much money on a seriously ugly necklace for my graduation present.  Last I heard he had become a skinhead so I feel like I made the right decision to end that relationship before I left for college.

Ah, college.  The time when you’re supposed to fall in love 100 times and date until you can’t see straight anymore!  That’s not really what happened to me.  I definitely got off on the wrong foot as a freshman by developing a crush on an incredibly cute junior, who as fate would have it was just discovering that he was gay. I still remember how I felt when he further broke my heart when, sitting in a movie theater getting ready to watch a Janeane Garofalo movie, after I told him that everyone said I reminded them of her, he sat silently for a minute and then said "No, you don't remind me of her at all. She has the prettiest smile." I remember a few other crushes in college, including a brief dalliance with the son of my advisor who was a sophomore when I was a junior. But really I had no boyfriends or even actual dates while I was in school.

After graduation, things continued much the same in terms of a dearth of dates. One of my friends persistently tried to set up me and some of her other single girlfriends. The problem was that she usually tried to set us up with guys that had been interested in her but she hadn't reciprocated their feelings. At the time it irked me somewhat, that she would try to set us up with guys she had rejected but I know that she is primarily a practical person and more than likely reasoned that just because it hadn't worked out with her, that didn't mean that these gents were suited to one of her friends. And after years of Internet dating where I have to rely on someone's representation of themselves in cyberspace without any knowledge of who they are in real life, I am way more grateful for her attempts to fix me up with guys who she knew were at least not crazy or rageaholics.

Things started to pick up a little bit a few years later but that is another story for another day as it is far too nice outside to be so contemplative indoors.

Table for One

I went out to dinner with a friend last night and sitting a few tables away from us was a woman having dinner by herself. That is something I have just never been good at. It’s funny since about I’d guess at least 75% of my meals are on my own, but I never really liked eating in public alone. The woman last night was impressive. I’m bad at guessing ages, but I’d say she was in her 50’s. She was smartly dressed – not like she had just rushed in from work but like she was just the type of woman who takes pride in putting herself together. Her hair was pulled back. She wore a jacket and a long skirt. She ordered a glass of wine and seemed at ease with herself and her surroundings.

The woman was reading a dense-looking book and that made her seem a little more human, a little more vulnerable.  A book is usually my go to companion when dining alone. Truth be told, I will almost never dine in public alone without a book. It’s like my armor or something – defense against those who would stare and say, “Look at that poor single woman eating all by herself.” Except, when I looked at the woman last night I didn’t think anything of the sort. She just looked like someone who liked to treat herself to a dinner out of the house, with a good glass of wine and a good book.

I really know nothing about her but I’ve been thinking about her this morning, wondering if she could help me get the gumption to dine alone just for the heck of it. She didn’t have a wedding ring so I started to wonder if like me, she was chronically single, or if she had recently separated, divorced, or lost her husband in a tragic accident. I mean I guess he just could have died in a less dramatic fashion, but she sort of looked like a woman who didn’t lead an ordinary life.

I’ve been thinking more about my aloneness of late. Perhaps, I’m contemplating it a bit too much but I’ve been wondering if maybe I’m alone because I am really good at being on my own. I have friends that are horrible at being alone. They just can’t handle it. I know women for whom it is a tragedy of epic proportions to leave their children and husband only for a few hours, and men who have no idea what to do with themselves when their significant others are busy. There seem to be so many people out there who would rather do anything than be on their own.

This is not to say that I am never lonely or that I always love being by myself. There are definitely times when it is more than I can take. But generally, I’m not at a loss with what to do with my time. It’s just the opposite – there are simply not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do.

Now sometimes I will wallow – watch way too much craptatic television or read the same maudlin books over and over. But there is usually too much fun to be had, too many yoga classes to attend, so many books to read and write, oodles of food to cook, scores of people to meet, multitudes of walks to be walked, and endless trips to be taken.

I have all these grand plans for when I have more time. First up will probably be either French or Italian classes. I think French would be more practical, but there is just something about Italian that sounds so delicious, so passionate. “Devo fermarmi al bancomat per prelevare dei contanti! Che fine hanno fatto tutti i miei soldi?!?!” Doesn’t that sound way better than, “I need to go to the ATM to withdraw some cash! What has happened to all of my money?!!?”

Alright, that is enough existential pondering and massacring of the Italian language for one day. I know some of you are wondering, when is this crazy girl going to get back to dating so I can read less about her dog and more about the psychopaths that get let out of the asylum to meet and date our girl? Well, I think I may have sufficiently lulled myself into a sense of forgetfulness about how awful dating is to give it another go. Yet again. Sigh. Well, maybe another day. I still have to figure out which method or platform will be my reentry into dating. Will it be one of the numerous dating websites I’ve tried in the past? (see Clash of the Titans: A Comparative Analysis of Dating Services for more info) Will I give speed dating another try? Are there other ways out there to meet non-psychotic men who might actually be fun to hang out with?

Surviving Singletonism: Get a Dog

I was recently reminded of a bet that I witnessed between two friends about a decade ago. The bet had to do with who would become the dreaded “cat lady” first and the winner of that honor would receive $100 from the loser to make up for her singleton cat lady status. One of the betters is married with two kids and I think at least one cat. The other better remains single but has no cats. So it really is tricky to say who has won the bet. To help them out, I graciously said they could just give me $200 and forget about the bet entirely.  Strangely they have not taken me up on my kind offer. 

I know that cats are generally thought of as the pet of choice for single ladies, but I must disagree. I dig cats and have cat-sat for neighbors on multiple occasions and their cats are highly cute and some are snuggly and like to play. That is all well and good, but what a cat cannot do is force you to regularly go outside.  That is not the only reason that I got a dog and not even the top reason why I love my dog so much, but it is extremely helpful when I am tending towards hermiting away my days, to have a very persistent dog insisting we must go outside. 

And when you go outside you can meet other people. Now I don't mean that this is the way you will meet that special someone who will sweep you off your feet (if you are the feet sweeping type of peep), as those who have read my blog and the exploits with DW can attest, it hasn’t worked out that way for me.  But you will meet people.  All kinds of people and dogs.  For me, getting out and walking my dog has resulted in me meeting and making some great friends in the neighborhood. 

A dog is so much more than an excuse to get out of the house though. There is something so wonderful about coming home and seeing Charlie wag his way toward me, leaning in for a cuddle and some scratches and love.  I could have had the most craptastic of days, replete with semi-breakdowns and wanting to staple things to people’s heads, but when I walk in the door it is impossible not to smile when I see that doggy face. He’ll bring me whatever toy he was playing with while I was gone, sort of a doggy show-and-tell, as if to say, look what I did! And as my friends settle down and have less time to hang out what with spouse’s schedules, kids’ schedules, and maybe even trying to sleep or some other essential activities, there is someone that will always have time for me.  I have no doubt, that although Charlie loves a lot of other people, I am his most favorite person and the one he would drop everything for. Except maybe a very tasty treat.

I’m not suggesting that a dog is the perfect pet for everyone or that a dog will cure whatever ails you.  Some people have certain expectations that cannot be met by a dog – a dog is not a perfectly obedient automaton who will never disobey you. It would be highly boring if they did, and if that is what you are looking for, perhaps a robotic pet would be better, or a nice picture of a dog. There may be accidents, some things might get chewed. He may constantly insist on eating his treats on the guest bed, twisting up and dirtying the coverlet so that you are fairly constantly doing the laundry (or finally remembering to close the guest bedroom door). He may bark incessantly at that one dog up the street or refuse to be mean to DW and his golden retriever and try to rush after them whenever he sees them. So if you’re expecting perfection, you’re going to be disappointed. The bright side is, that your dog will pretty much think you are perfect in every respect. 

The thing with dogs, is that they have a remarkable capacity to love and to relieve pain. When I take Charlie to visit the nursing home, it amazes me how even those residents in the darkest hells of dementia, so locked in their silent world that at times words fail them. Give them a few minutes with Charlie and they look peaceful, even happy. They may not be able to talk to me or express what is going on in their worlds, but the sight of his wagging tail, the feel of his soft fur, maybe a lick, maybe leaning against them, this does wonders. He doesn’t ask them for anything, he doesn’t say meaningless words, he just is there. He does the same for me when I’m exhausted with despair, when it seems like things can’t possibly get better. When I have no idea what to do and all I want is to numb myself from these feelings. I will feel a certain wet nose, nudging under my arm to snuggle in close. Sometimes he knows I just need him there, leaning against me and making know I’m not alone. And sometimes he knows I need to get the heck out of the house and leave my thoughts behind for a walk or a hike.

Charlie will forever be special to me for another reason. Going to pick him up from the shelter with my dad –this was the last thing that my dad and I did just the two of us, before my dad started to slip away into Alzheimer’s. I think at that point, my sister and I had started to talk about how his memory was not what it used to be, but he was still really all there and we had no idea what was about to happen.

I remember the day with an eerie precision that escapes me for most other events. It was a Friday in February 2006. I had a few weeks left at the job I had since graduating college and would be starting a new job in about a month. I knew that I wanted to get a dog since before I bought my house in June 2005, but I made myself wait to make sure that I could handle the responsibility and expenses of a house before I took on additional duties with a dog. I planned to get a dog during a week of leave I was taking just before my final days on the job, but those plans went out the window when I met Charlie and the shelter said they wouldn’t hold him for me – I had to take him home that day.

I’m not sure why I asked my dad to drive me to the shelter. I think I was nervous – I had never owned my own dog before as an adult, and I kinda wanted my daddy there with me. So we got in his minivan and drove the Defenders of Animal Rights shelter north of Baltimore. The woman I spoke to on the phone said they had a few terrier puppies left but they were going fast. When we got there, there were only two left from the litter: Charlie and his brother. The shelter let my dad and I meet the two puppies in a room and gave us some time to get to know each other. My dad looked a little skeptical as the one puppy careened around the room, chewing on leashes and having a ball. I sat on the floor cross-legged to watch the puppies. The other dog, the quieter one, walked shyly up to me and put one paw on my leg, as if asking permission. I patted my leg and he jumped into my lap, turned around once and lay down, sighing that doggy sigh that has become my most favorite sound in the world. He was my dog. There was no question.

But I looked at his brother and the thought of leaving him that evening was impossible. I started to say about how I could take both of them and that is when my sweet father said that there was no way in hell he was driving me home with two dogs. He said that I had just bought a house and this was my first dog and I needed to see if I could handle one before I took on another one. Then he asked the woman from the shelter to come in and asked her if she thought there would be a problem finding a home for the other dog. She laughed and said there would be no problem as three people had already called and were coming in the next day. With how cute those pups were, she said that he would have a home by Monday.

At the time I was slightly miffed with my dad. I mean, I was seriously excited to have Charlie who was even then snuggling into my arms as I was trying to fill in all the paperwork. But still, how could look at that other sweet puppy face and say no? And later my mom would pester him, why didn’t he adopt Charlie’s brother for them to keep? Now, this memory stands out as just him being my dad and wanting to make sure I didn’t take on too much, wanting to protect me from my own impulsive behavior. Maybe knowing that he and my mom wouldn’t be able to care for a dog pretty soon. He was saying and doing the things then that he cannot do now.

As we filled in the paperwork, my dad asked me what I was going to name my new dog. I looked into his dark eyes for under a minute and decisively said, “Charlie.” Then we got into the car and drove to the pet store. My dad sat in the car with Charlie while I ran in and bought a crate, bed, bowls, leash, collar, food, treats, gates, and anything else I could lay my hands on. Then we drove back to my parents’ house so my mom could meet Charlie, and the poor little guy who had made it all through the 30 minute drive, threw up just as we turned down my parent’s street.

After some time to settle his stomach and let my mom get to cuddle him, my dad drove me back to my house and sat with Charlie in the van while I quickly tried to puppy proof the house. They came in and my dad tried not to roll his eyes as he helped me put baby locks on the cabinet where I keep my cleaning stuff. And then he drove home and Charlie and I started our lives together.

When I look back on those days now, I remember not only how adorable Charlie was, but how capable my dad was at the time. Before he started to go downhill, he and my mom would come over during the workweek and walk Charlie for me. With working in DC and northern VA, I pulled some long hours – much longer than a puppy can handle. So my dad would walk Charlie while my mom hung out in my house, getting treats ready for when they returned. My dad used to say that Charlie was a “chic magnet” and that all the lovely ladies would come up to my dad and coo over Charlie. Then my mom would swat at him and say that next time she would walk Charlie to pick up all the neighborhood hunks. Eventually though, it became obvious that my dad shouldn’t have been driving and I hired a dog walker.

My dad still lights up when I bring Charlie over to visit him and my mom. He doesn’t sing for him like he used to, but he sits up and reaches his hands out to pet him, asking me how old Charlie is now. I answer him and ask him if he remembers the day we went to the shelter. My dad always says yes but since I know otherwise, I retell the story and my dad laughs and says yes, that’s how it was. And even though I know that in a few minutes, he will again ask me how old Charlie is now, I smile. I smile not just at the memory of that day, but at how in spite of everything my dad is still happy –happy to see me and most definitely, happy to see Charlie.