All By Myself

The total amount of "me" time in my life is increasing exponentially. This has to do not only with both kids going to school, but also through my own recognition (at the ripe age of 33) of the fact that I, actually, am happy hanging out by myself. I, actually, do not guilty about not doing housework (or any kind of work for that matter) anymore.

After three days of being stuck at home due to the wonderful snowfall in İstanbul, I went to a movie. People look at you strangely when you're at the movies by yourself. A couple, obviously more interested in making out than watching the movie ("get a room," I could say, but didn't, 'cuz hey, this is Turkey and you can't get a room if you're not married, and I can just scoot over a few seats and not be bothered), looked at their tickets, looked at my seat, looked back at their tickets, looked to the empty seat on my right, looked back at me again and just as I was contemplating whether I sat at the wrong seat, said that "oh, we didn't know you're alone."

Instead of a teary trailer of lonely days, having tea by myself with a sad face, looking at books and magazines in a store all alone while "All By Myself" plays in the background, a similar trailer came on with me dancing in Carrefour aisles humming "Patricia the Stripper."

I love hanging out by myself! I don't have to wait for anyone else looking at books that I'm not interested in, or nail polish shopping for that matter. There are times that I spend with friends doing exactly those as well. Just not all the time. (OK - I never went nailpolish shopping with a friend, but it could happen with my kokoş friends one day. Soon!)