“What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be”- Quote by Ellen Burnstyn

This weekend was a busy weekend.  It started out with my daughter’s birthday on Friday.  We celebrated and then, per her request; she was off to her Aunt’s house for a sleep over.  My sister loves to take the kids and spend time with them.  I often wonder if it is her form of birth control.  Once she returns them, I am sure she is ready to crash for 24 hours. 

Anyway, this marked the 2^nd time in 9 years that I have had my entire house to just me!  I pondered on what to do.  Do I go out?  Do I have someone over?  Do I go out?  Do I go to my besties house?  Do I go out?  I am sure you get the point. As I drove back home alone, I thought over my options.  I guess my age was coming through because I decided to go home. I figured this would be a great opportunity to move my turtles to their new tank and fidget around the house.  I figured if anyone wanted to hang out with me bad enough, they would come to me (so now we really know it was going to be an alone night).

I struggled to move the table from my basement to the family room to hold the tank.  I squealed and moaned as I struggled to carry in the new 50 gallon tank (that was awkward to say the least).  I got everything setup and ready to go, then came the moment of moving the turtles to the new tank.  I stopped and stared at them for a few minutes and thought “oh heck no!”  The turtles have grown so much that I know longer think of picking them up as a remedial task. This was a true ADVENTURE!  For one quick moment, I thought “who can I call to do this?”  “Would my neighbor help me?” 

Then I stopped and pulled myself together, I mean really?  I have birthed two children.  Need I say more?  I reached in and grabbed the first one.  The legs were flailing like a…umm “turtle out of water”.  I kept telling myself “focus focus” as I ran to the new tank and quickly dropped the female into the water.  I then went back for the “Big Guy”.  That’s correct; the male is twice the size of the female.  UGH!  I reach in and grab him and to my surprise, he tucks in his shell and hides.  YA ME!  I did it!

The turtles are now safely in their new habitat. I cleaned up (since all the drama left me covered in dirty turtle water) and reached for the celebration bottle of “something”. I sat on the couch, watched Dateline, and drank the entire bottle of “something”.  It was at that moment that I realized that being alone does not mean you are lonely.  Sure, I talked to myself throughout the night, but I never once felt the need to have someone with me.  I was 100% enjoying the time alone.  This leads me to my quote of the day:

 “What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be”- Quote by Ellen Burnstyn

In Just Keeping it REAL, there comes a time in your life when you realize that your favorite person is “me” and that sometimes it is nice to be alone with just “me”.  I am lucky that I found “me” and enjoy the “me” that I have become.  I hope that each of you will take the alone time and find the true satisfaction in just being “me”.  Until you do, you will never find the “us” that you yearn for.  Happy Monday!