Solitude Makes Me a Better Me.

"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone."
--Lord Byron

Random fact: I attended both my junior and senior high school proms alone, or stag as it was called. I didn’t stress that I was dateless. I had my bestie with me and we had fun. I only bring this random fact up because as I was sitting in my mechanical massage chair getting a pedicure yesterday, and the many young ladies around me were discussing prom. I was privy to their schedule for the day, with nails getting done, hair and make up later and so forth. It was nice to see their enthusiasm. It’s been great seeing my friends' children’s prom pics on Facebook, reminding me that time has surely flown.

I have a good seven years or so before my first born is in the throngs of prom season. I want him to know, and my daughter to know when it’s her time that going “stag” or whatever they may call it in the future is fine. Not going at all, not a big deal either. You won’t get screwed up later in life despite the messages we get in movies or books or TV, as in Pretty in Pink, when Annie Potts’s character, Iona tells Molly Ringwald’s character, Andie that she had a friend who didn’t go to prom and is now “off’ somehow.

I’m also reading, and enjoying Paper Towns by John Green, where prom is a hot button topic. (Book review soon/in tandem with a movie review once I see it).

Here's Seventeen magazine's take on going to prom solo and I agree (except for the high heels thing). LINK, yo!

Solitude is a good thing. To be alone and to like yourself, that’s a healthy thing. I’ve had many opportunities to explore this, from eating alone in a restaurant, attending a concert solo (many, actually), and heading to a part of town that I don’t particularly like just to attend an author signing (as in Joe Hill). I know when the house is quiet, that I will be fine. I crave some solitude daily and use it, well heck, mostly to do chores, but more importantly to check in with myself.

As my family is playing golf in our backyard, and checking on wildlife (we have a raccoon family under our hot tub), I’m carving out a bit of time to write, in solitude.

I may feel this way too because I am an introvert, but alone time will always be my party time.