I am “off the grid” for a few days of R&R with some girlfriends. No water, no electric, no cell service for 30 miles. Bliss!

Today’s post is about becoming comfortable with being alone. Man, this is a tough one. When you are the one who has been left behind, be it through divorce or death, you go through a myriad of emotions and it isn’t pretty.

I ran into a couple of women at Starbuck’s this morning. I’ve known them both for 28 years. One lost her husband about 22 years ago and the other lost hers last month. It was comforting to sit with them and see how far I’ve come (as compared to the newly widowed one) and that I’m going to be fine in the future (as demonstrated by the other one).

I miss Mr. Virgo’s company. And, I’m beginning to enjoy my own. It’s ok to say that. It’s ok to enjoy heading off for a camping trip with the girls and not feel guilty that I’m leaving Mr. Virgo alone at home. It doesn’t mean I love him less. It’s ok that I’m relieved I don’t have to cook every single night if I don’t want to. It doesn’t mean I didn’t love doing it for him. What it means is very simple. It means that I am perfectly capable of loving myself, of entertaining myself, of taking care of myself. This is not only a healthy thing…it makes it more appealing for others to be around me and it offers me new opportunities to get to know more people. It doesn’t mean I’m happy about the circumstances surrounding the cause for being alone. But it is what it is. Mr. Virgo would come back to haunt me if I didn’t move forward.

It has taken me a long time to get to this point. It hasn’t been easy and there are still some potholes in this broken road. We can’t compare our journey to someone else’s. All we can do is lay down at night and say, “Lord, I did my best today. I’ll try again tomorrow!”

<3