I fell head over heels in love this summer. A love that many are not fortunate enough to experience in a lifetime. It lasted just a few short months, but it was a summer love worthy of literature and cinema and song and it was ...perfect.
But.
But then the beautiful, sultry summer ended. The long Indian Summers that New England is so famous for settled in and my great love went on an adventure to Germany.
So.
So now I find myself for the first time in a long time alone on a Friday night. No summer love, no roommates even.
So what do I do?
Pour myself a glass of red wine. Stick some brownies in the oven. Put on my Ella Fitzgerald Pandora station. And cook - for the first time in my 27 glorious years - a steak. And it was the best steak I have eaten. Ever. Because I made it. By myself.
As I cooked, I realized how much I was enjoying my evening alone, and two very appropriate quotes popped into my head:
1. "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" - Stephen Stills
2. "To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance" - Oscar Wilde
From time to time my mother will find me in a cocoon of solace; reading a book, sitting on the porch, or doing a crossword. She will stop and remind me how much my beloved grandma used to also enjoy peaceful time to just be. It's a genetic trait we share and one that I treasure.
It's always a great and wonderful feeling to be surrounded by loved ones, but sometimes the most fantastic thing in the world is doing exactly what you want to do, following your own schedule, enjoying the quiet and your thoughts; cooking a steak because YOU want a steak and you can cook it exactly the way YOU want.
And sometimes that's the best kind of love.
