I Am Officially Independent

I am officially an independent woman and I'm so proud of myself! Yesterday for the first time in my 28 years of life, I mowed my yard ALL BY MYSELF (with a push mower no less)! Now I know that for lots of people this may seem like no big deal, but if you know me... you know this was a major accomplishment. Yes, I'm kind of girly, but I hope not in an annoying way. My hangup with mowing the lawn really had nothing to do with my ability to do it or not wanting to get sweaty or dirty or any of those kinds of reasons. It was much more of a hangup in admitting that I am officially a single girl living by myself in the suburbs and I need to be completely self sufficient. While I obviously am aware that I've been living by myself for almost a whole year, yesterday I finally decided that I can survive and thrive as a single girl for however long that might be.

I remember Joe and I having an argument before we got married about mowing the lawn and shoveling the snow. He was saying that if it snowed less than two or three inches he would not shovel the driveway and more then likely he would never shovel it before I went to work. And anytime he could hire a kid to mow the lawn, he would. I don't mean to be high maintenance or anything, but that completely offended me. How could he not want to go out of his way to make sure that his wife did not have to wade through feet (or inches) of snow? To me, this was a scenario about a man not stepping up to take care of his wife and it was kind of an emotional safety thing. I think a lot of women just want to feel safe and taken care of in some ways and the snow and the lawn have always been those triggers for me. That would be like me saying I would never work or cook dinner or clean the house to help take care of him. Admitting that I need to do these outdoor things for myself has meant admitting that I officially have no one to take care of me and I'm on my own. It might sound dumb, but it's been a tough one to get through. Last summer I was able to get my neighbors to help with the lawn thank goodness. Everytime I tried to go out there and mow, I just couldn't do it.

So yesterday was a day for the history books... It's OFFICIAL. I can do anything.

Today's Song of the Day... (I thought about "I'm Every Woman", but I couldn't be that cheesy.)

Shake It
Metro Station