Being Comfortable Alone

I'm an only child, and a former latch-key kid, and my parents have been separated since I was six years old.  All of these things about my life forced me to be comfortable alone.  No, it forced me to tolerate being alone.  When I wasn't home alone I was at my Oma and Opa's house, who I love dearly, yet they obviously didn't satisfy my need for peer connection outside of school.  Now that I am older, I am learning that I need my alone time.  

During the week I get that time, as I live alone (well.. my roomates are dogs) and I commute to school where I don't have any friends (not complaining!) and I work with children, alone.  On the weekends however, I am almost always with my boyfriend, who lives an hour away from me.  This past week, however, he has been at his mom's house to help her out after a back injury.  This left me with dog sitting duty for his pitbull princess, Alabama.  I had originally made plans with my friend Emily, but her poor kitty was sick with a UTI and she had to take him to the vet.  I felt pretty lost, at the prospect of being alone for the entire weekend - with little "to do".  I decided to push forward, and do exactly what I had planned for Emily and I.  After "walkies" with Alabama, I got in my car and headed up Route 1a, which passes through a few of my favorite North Shore towns and up along the New Hampshire seacoast.

My first stop was Oldies Marketplace which is right in downtown Newburyport.  It's a huge old boat barn (shack, house?) filled with thousands of items.  They have a little of everything, it can be a bit overwhelming.  It's a great place to go for furniture such as antique chests, dining sets, and chairs.  They also have a selection of reproduced vintage town maps - which would be nice to hang in an office or entry way.

tiny chair or huge decor?

 After that I decided to just drive, and listen to NPR.  I stopped a few places along the way and snapped a few pics.  The weather was pretty strange - Seabrook was looking fairly dystopian.  All the summer houses were boarded up, the sky was ominous and there's the nuclear power plant looming in the distance.

I ended up in Kittery, had a little luck at the Barbour outlet and then walked out of J Crew without buying anything.  I know, I couldn't believe myself - but lately new clothes that I know won't last very long don't interest me - but that's another blog post all together.  

My last stop was at The Friendly Toast.. alone.  Not sure how friendly that is, but there were two other single diners in there so it was OK.  I got some tofu scram, read my book a little and I was out of there in less than 40 mins.  I drove home listening to Gillian Welch and felt pretty okay with myself.