Article: "Why I'm Alone" by Lea Lane

An article printed in the Huffington Post, titled "Why I'm Alone." Some of my favourite reasons:

People ask me why I'm still alone, and why I don't seek to date much, eight years after my husband died. I thought about it the other day, and came up with a few of the reasons.
I'm alone because:

... I find myself sitting in front of the computer, and three hours later I look up and the sun is down and it's too late to ask someone to go out to dinner, so I spread some cream cheese and mild salsa on wheat crackers and watch Olbermann. And I'm fine with it.

... I sometimes like it, so I won't go out and beat the bushes for some nice-enough fellow who belches so loud I jump and doesn't listen and who doesn't make me smile enough to put up with strange noises and indifference.

... I'm now used to getting up when I want and drinking from the juice bottles and not shaving my legs and leaving dishes from the night before on my bed and getting up at 3am and seeing a movie and going back to bed at 5am and not hearing a word of scorn, and not that many people can deal with that kind of thing.

... I appreciate solitude.

... I can scratch my own itches.

... it's peaceful.

... I have friends who laugh and go out to concerts and play Scrabble and keep me occupied when I want to go out and we seem to laugh more than our married friends and we even look happier, even if we aren't, but I suspect we might be, at least more so than many.

... I'm independent and outspoken and most men don't much care for women who debate them and who don't hope to get married and cook for them.

... I don't want to be a nurse for the men who still run after me, who can't even run.

... I don't want my heart broken again. Ever.

... I don't find it easy to trust.

... my memories and dreams are often X-rated and I can return to them when I want a thrill.

... I'm comfortable in my skin.

... you're more alone in an unhappy relationship than you really ever are without a relationship at all.

... my friends don't introduce me to anyone anymore because they know that unlike some women my age who settle, I want a bit more than "mammal" on my wish list.

... life doesn't always wind up the way you expect it to, and you roll with it.

... I choose to be.

... I'm able to be.