Single With Reason

People have asked me many times about the last time I was in a relationship and assume I want to be in one again in the future. Some do not seem, even as they moan about about how difficult one is or complain about their significant other, to believe I want to be alone forever. There are times, of course, that I think it would be nice to have someone who cares enough to ask where I am, what I want to do that day, or even just to snuggle with on a cold morning. Then, I remember! Not just the warm and fuzzy moments but the other parts, the annoying, the sometimes extremely annoying parts.

I like being alone. I like having no one to explain anything to, no one to pick up after, no one to have to consider when I want to do something on the spur of the moment. I like having everything my way and everything in its place. I have had grandsons spend a week or more at a time with me and it reminds me of how nice it is to be alone. No one changes things, there are no wet towels on the floor, things in the wrong place, and there is nothing on the floor that doesn't belong there. I sweep less. I vaccum less. I mop less. I do not stumble over things on the floor. Because I take off my shoes when I walk in, I eat in the kitchen over a plate, I clean up after myself and I put things away.

I say that if I ever fall and can't get up, it will be a neighbor who smells my rotting body or someone from work who comes looking for me that will finally notice I am missing. It is a joke and (being a Catholic mother) my way to guilt daughters into calling but it is also true. I do not care, however. I do miss them and get lonesome when there are no grandchildren staying with me or calling me for a ride somewhere or other. It only takes three days at most of any of them staying over to remind me that I do not have a man in my life or a roommate for a reason.