I have feared this moment for years. Two of my last childhood best friends moved in with their boyfriends and bought dogs. We have finally, officially, become (dramatic music playing) adults.
I came home for holidays last Friday. I was full of anticipation and happiness, I wanted to see everybody and have the best Christmas ever. I did see everybody and had a great Christmas but something was different. This time, I came home and I was Bridget Jones. A glass of vodka in the other hand and a cigarette in the other, answering the one question all of us single women try to avoid like the plague; “How’s the love life?”
A few posts back I said I was going to celebrate Christmas with my whole family for the first time in three years. Well, this also was the first Christmas in many years without my long-term (ex) boyfriend. There we were; mom & dad, my sisters & their boyfriends, me & the dog. Everybody got the greatest presents from their partners, I got the book “Table for one”. They all thought it was hilarious.
Sometimes you hear people talking how fun it is to be a single and free but the truth is, being single is only fun when you’re with other singles. It’s hard to feel great about being alone when you’re surrounded by ten happy couples telling you how amazing being in love is. They all come in pairs these days and finding some alone-time with your friends is very difficult. Those long, crazy nights seem like a distant memory now.And when you ask your best friend what’s the latest and the greatest in her life and she replies “I made pie with my boyfriends grandmother the other Saturday” it’s very hard to 1) act like that sounded amazing 2) tell her what you did the other Saturday.
The good thing about true friends is though, that when you feel that way, you can say it out loud. You can tell them how you miss the old times and they still know that you couldn’t be happier for them. They have a tissues in their hand bags when you need to cry a little. Then they’ll drop their aprons for a while, drink tequila with you and dance the night away, just like they used to do. Because that’s what adults are like.
As much as I actually enjoy being single, I do hope I will not end up inhaling gas from the stove like Kate Winslet in Holiday.
