Weekend strategy

It looks like winter out there today. I hope everyone driving had a safe commute this morning.

Thank you for ALL of your very kind words, your faith in me and support yesterday. As I read the comments before I turned in last night, I was overwhelmed by your sentiments.

Okay, today's topic? My 'weekend strategy'.

Weekends can be a challenge when you're my age and single 'without' children to take care of or visit, or family nearby. When I first became single, weekends were unbearable. For the most part I just cried a LOT and did what I could to just survive.

It's been almost two years now since I've been on my own. Mercifully, I'm no longer in agonizing pain. I no longer have to just try to 'survive' weekends. It means I now can 'think' about how I 'want' to spend them.

I happen to love eating out. FYI, I don't need to go to a fancy eatery to enjoy the experience. I enjoy everything from diners to specialty restaurants.

Anyway, some time ago I began making reservations for dinners on Saturday evenings. Once I have the reservation in place, I then find someone to go with me. If I didn't have the reservation, I would likely just be tempted to stay 'in' and not make the effort to venture out. So far, I've always found someone to join me for these dinners.

I got lucky Monday when I received a message from an old friend who's going to be in town this weekend. He wanted to catch up, and wouldn't you know it----I just happened to have a dinner reservation for Saturday night. Ergo, I now have a dinner companion!

I suspect this sounds very simplistic to some of you. This is huge for me. It's taken the 'wondering' out of what I'll do for the weekend into 'I can't wait for Saturday night'. It's fun to think about what I'll wear and what I'll order.

Building a new life for oneself doesn't happen overnight. It really is 'baby steps'.

I'm sharing this today so that others in similar circumstances might see this as a possible option. I also want to remind everyone, INCLUDING loved ones of those starting over, just how challenging it is to 'begin again.' This is hard stuff. That being said, I'll take 'how excited I am about this Saturday night' ANY DAY OF THE WEEK over how I felt not all that long ago.