Hello World!

 Once apon a time there was a woman who thought that the most important thing in the world was showing the rest of world that she had worth. The best way to reveal this worth was to be attached. Attached to the world, and more specifically, attached to a significant other. She spent most of her adult life attaching herself to a short, but serious, list of potential worth-providers. Each had a period of time: one and half years, then three, then six and finally nine and a half years were poured into these alliances. Each time they failed she blamed herself, blamed the world, blamed the economy...something had to be wrong, right? They were all decent types. They all bathed, cut their hair (well maybe not all of them). They all had good jobs and prospects and one good suit. They all liked her. And she liked all of them.

So what was missing? Why did each end in the exact same way: the inevitable slow decay; the lengthening silences. Calls are missed and not returned. Bed times start to vary and before long each is living a separate life with separate hobbies and separate friends and separate, well, everything.

Many things start to go unsaid.

Cupboard doors are shut just a little too loudly.

Boots thump in stairwells.

And then the words are spoken, "We need to talk." Nothing good starts with that phrase, not even when it's translated into French. Many good things end though.

And ending is in itself not such a bad thing. When a thing no longer works, there is no good reason to keep turning the key, expecting the engine to start again. Some things die irrevocably.

But this time, she has decided not to move on to a new alliance. Because, she has realised, she is already worthy. The only alliance she needs right now is the one she has formed with herself. 

So, dear friends, beloved Void, and the rest of the world: hello!

New year, new me, single but not lonely (one is never lonely with a dog). Quietly content and raring to go.