What's To Miss

I begged my older sister to move out with me and get an apartment when I was 19. We lived together for a couple of years before she moved back home to save money. And then I lived alone for about 5 years before marrying.

It's been so long now (28 years) that I have to stop and really think about it. But in the early years of my marriage and child rearing, it was the precious memories of those single and alone days that I would flee to as I stared out the window while doing dishes at the kitchen sink.... with babies screaming in the background and the husband mowing the lawn replacing the quiet solitude and music I used to play. Rarely did I turn a t.v. on in my single days' apartment. Rarely is one of the 4 t.v.'s off in my home as a married lady. Laundry piled up in my single days but it only had to be tackled once a month rather than 3 times a day. I could leave a room clean...or messy...and it stayed.

Yep. I miss that stuff...those days. But had I not traded it in for married life and motherhood, I would have missed so much more and not known it. If you're single, the following is a list you should be thankful for...because once married, or co-habiting, these things vanish. And while some really great things replace them...some you will dream about the rest of your life while staring out the window.

She has no clue about the things she will miss about being single.

The Top 10 Things I Miss About Being Living Alone:

1. Absolute quiet. No sound drifting from a t.v. left on in every room.
2. Sleeping. Going to bed without someone commenting, "You're going to bed already?" Or waking up late without someone saying, "Well.....did you get enough sleep?"
3. Eating out of the pantry, refrigerator or over the sink. Without worrying about someone seeing you.
4. Watching "Little House On The Prairie" and not some stupid ghost hunting show.
5. Laundry day came only once a month.
6. I could let the phone ring without yelling, "DON'T ANSWER IT!" and feeling guilty about it.
7. Painting and listening to music until the wee hours of the morning.
8. Paying my own bills and knowing that I could make it on the leftover $50 for the next two weeks. Because I had noone else to worry about.
9. The mess was my mess. I could clean it or walk away from it. It wouldn't get any messier.
10. Only one commode to clean. Or bathroom mirror. Or shower. Or closet. Or bedroom.