When I moved out of my family home, aged 18, I shared a ‘student’ house with another couple of equally poor students. I moved from there to yet another shared house, met my (now deceased ex) husband, moved in with him, and proceeded to have some kids.
The kids are now grown and have lives of their own, but whilst a couple of them were still living at home, I met and fell in love with a chap, and when the last kids finally moved out, we moved in together.
The Bloke and I have now parted ways, and I moved back to suburban Melbourne on the weekend. My dear daughter felt that I needed some ‘company’ after my move, so has stayed here with the grand-babies for the last couple of nights, bless her soul! She’s gone home now, thank OG!
But tonight, for the first time ever, I am living alone, in my own home!
Kam - I’m so happy for you (as long as you’re happy!)
I remember the first night after the abusive ex was excorcised from my house - it was the first time my son and I had ever been alone. We camped in the living room (he was four - he loved sleeping in the tent and we had our sleeping bags). He still remembers it and talks about camping with mom and he’s 22 now.
I love my kids, but it is my deep, dark mommy-secret that I often fantasize about the ever-ticking freedom clock slowly counting off the years until I get my space back. When I am at my most furious and most frazzled with my three little imps, I picture that clock and tell myself This won’t last forever.
kambuckta, you give me hope. Enjoy the quiet, and the bed all to yourself, and having things still be where you set them down, and not having to clean up anyone’s messes but your own, and eating what and when you want, and a toilet seat that’s never up.
Me too. I lived alone for a brief period when I was in my early twenties (in between the house sharing/nurses quarters living and getting married. I loved it.
Oh, um, the move itself was nightmarish. We packed a big enclosed trailer on Friday morn, then headed down the highway for a four-hour ride…about an hour out of Melbourne the trailer misbehaved badly and was careering all over the freeway, narrowly missing other cars and trucks and we ended up doing a 360 degree turn, then a 180 and came to a standstill up an embankment. :eek:
Two cars that had to swerve to avoid us ended up colliding, and one woman then complained of chest pains, so police and ambulances were called. The tow-truck drivers beat them of course!
So the trailer (which apparently suffered axle damage) was hauled away, and we tried to organise another one…the only one available for hire in the area had bunged-up electricals. :rolleyes:
To cut a very long and painful story short, I didn’t move in on Friday as planned. However, I’m here now, and RELISHING my space! It’s the sweetest feeling ever!!
Hungry? Eat! Do the dishes? Nah, tomorrow will do! And any mess is my mess and if I want to play on the computer whenever, I WILL.
I’m alone right now (The Lad is away for work) and as much as I love having him around and miss him lots, I do thoroughly enjoy doing exactly what I want without having to consider others. Plus, everything I’ve cleaned has stayed clean! And the mess remaining is MY mess and I’ll deal with it when I feel like it!
I get brief glimpses of what it will be like when my son goes to stay at his dad’s in another state. Right now he’s in week eight of an eleven week stay. His longest ever.
It’s everything belladonna said and more. I’ve only had to run the dishwasher about three times all summer. The house is quiet unless I choose to make it otherwise. No stray wadded up wet towels. No finding out after starting a recipe that there isn’t a whole cup of milk in the house.
Ha. I was sick over the weekend and stayed home from church. I groggily realized it was the first time I’d been alone in the house in years. I resisted the temptation to scamper naked through the living room. I felt like crap and besides, I was afraid of scaring the hermit crab. (Though I suppose being a hermit, he wouldn’t have noticed.)
I love Mrs. R a lot, but my best recent day was the Saturday before last, when she was out of town and I just puttered around all day, all by myself, not having to worry about being anywhere or doing anything. I’m not sure I’d want to be alone all the time, but it was certainly a nice change for a few days.
I suppose the most awesome thing will be opening the refrigerator and seeing that no one ate that last piece of cherry pie you were saving for later. And dirty dishes won’t magically appear in your sink anymore. Congrats.
My mom never lived alone until her late 40s and was poorly-adapted to it. Kept begging me to come over and visit, until she developed her own hobbies (she still claims to be lacking in sufficiently-frequent company, although not as often–I wish she would place a “roommate wanted” advert). But not me! I can’t wait to not need roommates anymore. 22 months and counting until my car is paid off…
