Reason #5: My Time is My Own

So I have this college roommate who is awesome. I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize how awesome she is and how awesome her life is, which I think makes her more awesome. After we graduated college, she wound her way to Washington, D.C. After working for a Representative here and a Senator there, she found herself working in the State Department a few years ago as some sort of White House liasion and rubbing elbows with Condolezza Rice (who majorly impresses me, by the way, with her classical piano and her desire to be the NFL Commissioner one day). Her job took her to all sorts of interesting places and working on things that matter, such as peace talks between warring factions and whatnot. It was not unusual for me to talk to her and hear that she had just come back from the Middle East, or from Spain, or from some other exotic location.

And when a new political party took office in January 2009, she found herself at a crossroads: what would she do next with her life? She had dozens of options that I'm sure I will get wrong, but one option was to work with her state's legislature as sort of an HR director for the staff of all legislators to working for a private investment firm figuring out how to spend their money for good causes and which ones to invest in. But she did something I would never be brave enough to do: she struck out on an around-the-world tour. No kidding. She took several months and just traveled to all the interesting places she'd been where she'd made friends, and had a glorious time doing it. I remember talking to her while she was trying to make the decision on whether to go, and she said, "You know, I'm single, I don't have children, I'm not tied down at the moment; if I don't do it now, I will never do it."

And I loved that attitude. And how true it would be if she were attached/married to someone who had a job and a mortgage and responsibilities to tend to at home. When else will she have such a chance? And she took it. And the last time I heard from her, she was living in Rwanda working on reconciliation projects between those whose families had been victims of the genocide that took place a decade ago and those who had committed the genocide. (How's that for work that matters?)

So Andie Mac (as I so affectionately call her) is my Reason #5 as to why it's good to be single. You want to take a vacation to some place fun and you've got the money and vacation time to do it? Go for it! You don't have to convince someone who is allergic to the sun that a Caribbean cruise would be a good time. And in the meantime, you aren't getting dragged to a NASCAR race for a long weekend when you'd rather have your feet propped up reading the latest issue of People Magazine or that novel you've been eyeing for months. My "me" time is truly "me" time and I get to dictate what I do with it. So start feeling bad for all those girls who hate sports and yet find themselves attending the weekend baseball game--or worse yet, going to their man's softball games where the only thing higher than the score is the number of player injuries. And you can giggle to yourself as you curl up on the couch and watch a marathon of America's Next Top Model while your friend is traipsing along behind her boyfriend in the woods while he hunts and she attempts to bond with him. Besides, I don't think I'd look good in camouflage, anyway!