Single Lady Skills are Cool

I didn't think about it much until recently, but eleven years of living on your own breeds useful skills.  It is hard to believe sometimes that I am even old enough to discuss eleven years of doing anything (besides maybe walking or eating or something), let alone eleven years of doing grown-up things.  Of course, some of those years have been a little more "grown-up" than others.  It began with leaving Ohio for Nashville, in a basically controlled environment- purchasing my groceries in a "Munchie Mart" on my VandyCard - and flew by, evolving into the last several years, some with a roommate, some without, basically supporting myself and being generally (I said generally) self-sufficient.

Those eleven years were, at times, filled with moments of wishing I was not on my own.  In college there was the occasional bout of homesickness (I'm still not immune), which later in my twenties became the fear-of-being-alone (you know, with cats).  Don't get me wrong - I hate cats, and most of the time, I really enjoyed my independence.  But, there were the times - and they certainly multiplied as the Facebook posts about engagements, weddings, and babies did too - that flying solo didn't seem that great.  But, as life would have it, now that those concerns are gone, I am appreciating things about those days that I never could have then.

First of all, being single for so long taught me lots of neat skills.  For example, I can assemble an Ikea-brand-anything like nobody's business.  I am not a skilled builder and my spatial reasoning leaves much to be desired, but after all of those years moving by myself (six apartments in five years), I learned to throw out things I could not pick up, and then buy even more, even cheaper stuff... Ikea was my best friend.

I also know how to hang things.  I can use a drill, a hammer, and a screwdriver, of course -- but I am also proficient with 3M's line of household products.  And, after I hang things, I can ghetto rig them when they won't hang just right.  Look behind ten hanging pictures in my home and you will find tape or something of the sort holding the corner juuuust so...

I can carry twenty bags of groceries up seven flights of stairs in one trip (although I couldn't do five push-ups if I tried), make gourmet meals with a less-than-complete kitchen set, get wine spots out of comforters, make $25 last for two weeks.... well, you probably get the idea.

This week actually marks five years that I have been at my first (and only) "grown-up" job, been in Orlando, and really, truly, on my own.  Looking back, I know that-girl-then would have been pretty excited about where life is for this-girl-now... but I can't help but look back, just a little.

Moving in, getting engaged, all of that stuff I have been waiting for a long time (no - like, really, a looooong time - refer to last post for specifics), but now that it's here, I can't help but think a little about how cool that time on my own really was.  I definitely feel a palpable shift taking place - like I am stepping from one vortex into another - and it is both exciting and terrifying, all at once.

At least at the end of the day, there is someone in this house who knows how to change a lightbulb... ;-)