Not a real criticism, just an expansion really, but ⌠ itâs not just the timetables we need to get away from, but the goal itself, I think.  âOne day you will find someone,â sounds comforting, but the reason it doesnât lay fears to rest is because we are all smart enough to know itâs not necessarily true.
My aunt is over sixty, never married, and never, so far as I am aware, ever even had a great romance. Â She dated a lot, but never clicked and now seems to have given up. Â My mentor is over seventy, divorced her asshole husband more than half her life ago and has never found anyone since.
We all know women (and men) like these.  And because we know them, we know that âone day you will find someone,â is just ⌠hogwash.  Because sometimes you just ⌠donât.  Or sometimes you do, but he turns out to be a cad.  Or you do and the universe rips you apart in the most unfair way possible.  And because society has us so fixated on finding âour other halfâ or whatever, we view these women as cautionary tales.
My aunt trains dogs. Â Her schipperke is the national champion for his breed. Â She spent so much of her life as a librarian, nurturing the love of books in kids, myself among them. Â I ride horses because of her, and itâs one of the very few things I do that makes my soul feel at peace.
My mentor is one of the best criminal defense attorneys in her state.  She has devoted her life to fighting to ensure that everyone gets a vigorous defense.  Because of her countless people have had the opportunity to turn their lives around.  Because of her, theyâve had a life to turn around.  Because of her, the prosecution and the police in her jurisdiction are forced to behave ethically and adhere to the rule of law.  Sheâs still, even now fighting to abolish the death penalty.  Itâs because of her that I am pursuing the life I am.
These womenâs lives are not nothing. Â In fact they are a whole lot of something, and it makes my heart hurt that I ever, in my dark 3 amâs, thought of their lives as something to be avoided at all costs.
So love your family, your friends, your pets, your gardens. Â Love your job or your hobby or your raison dâ etre, whatever it is. Â Love sunsets and the smell of rain and yourself, and donât love these as something to do as a placeholder until the buzzing, romantic love comes, but love these as things worth loving all in themselves.
Itâs fucking hard some days. Â The dark 3 amâs still come sometimes. Â But most days, I am so much more at peace knowing that I am not incomplete or waiting, but that my life, if it ended today, is worth it because of the platonic, familial, friendship love I have shared. Â And if the other kind does come someday, thatâll be nice, but it wonât make any of the others less. Â Itâll just be caramel sauce on a sundaeâtasty and wonderful, but the sundae was perfect without it too.
annaxmalina
