Holidays alone

It's officially the Holiday Season. The infamous "Black Friday" sales are over. Today is "Cyber Monday", another manic day of online shopping, if that's your thing. But by the time we reach the later years of life, things just aren't the same. How do we keep the sparks alive when things are so different now? I found a list of things to keep in mind that just might help:

• I don't have to hide purchases in the trunk of the car any more.
• I can stay in my pajamas all weekend long.
• I can eat pizza for breakfast, or have pancakes for dinner.
• I can spread all my papers and books on the other side of the bed and leave them there til I'm finished.
• I don't have to make an appointment to spend half an hour in the tub.
• I can watch a wonderful old movie at 3am without keeping the volume down.
• I don't have to share my closets with anyone.
• I can dress up for the fun of it without anyone asking "What's the occasion?"
• I can tear pages out of magazines and newspapers without waiting for anyone else to read them first.
• I don't have to tune out the clamor of someone else's choice in music, television, or video.
• I can spend Saturday reading and catch up on the housework whenever.
• I can eat anything in my own refrigerator at any time.
• I can celebrate any darn thing I want to with an expensive bottle of wine.
• I'm always happy with my own birthday present.
• I don't have to stop everything to catch the score, unless I want to.
• I don't have to explain myself, ever.

None of this may sound like it will lead to living romantically, but it has to start somewhere. If you're feeling sorry for yourself because of loves lost, try and discover a few reasons to be grateful for your singleness in the moment.

Love After Love
~Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
You will greet yourself arriving
At your own door, in your own mirror,
And each will smile at the other's welcome.

And say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
To itself, to the stranger who has loved you.

All your life, whom you ignored
For another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
The photographs, the desperate notes,
Peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

HUGS to help celebrate YOU!