While in Seattle, my sister and I palled around the entire week, except for the time she had to work on Friday. My choices were either stay home, without a car, or go with her to Bellevue and spend the day wandering. I chose the latter and I am glad I did.
She planned to work from 8 until about 4 so I had to find something to do to pass the time. I went armed with a book and after a quick trip to Starbucks, I walked over to the mall (it was next door) and sat in those wonderfully comfortable iron chairs outside the Tully’s (yes, still with my Starbucks cup) and ended up reading for two hours.
That was easy… half the morning gone already. The stores in the mall started opening up and I decided I would meander through some of my favs - Banana Republic, the Apple store, and Macy’s - and I even bought a few items.
It was 11 o’clock so I mosied myself back to my sister’s office building to wait for her and our lunch meeting at 11:30. We had a nice long lunch at a tasty Italian food restaurant (in her building) and then off she went back to work.
After lunch, I had a few more hours to kill, but luckily there was a movie theatre (also attached to her building… gotta love mixed-use) and I figured that would be a great way to pass a good chunk of time. I bought a ticket to The Day The Earth Stood Still, with Keanu Reeves, (it was average) and when it was over, it was 3:30 and just about time to go. 8 hours passed, no sweat.
See, this type of day would have been dreadful for the old me. Before Friday, I had never been to a movie by myself, never been to a cafe just to sit/read by myself, and only on a few occasions had I ever gone shopping with no objective.
I must admit, I rather enjoyed the experience. After getting over the initial anxiety about whether or not people thought I was some lonely loser, it was nice just to have some ‘me’ time. In fact, it seems there were others having ‘me’ time that day as there were several people sitting solo in the theatre.
A day like last Friday turned out to be exactly what I needed… a day where I didn’t have to do anything at all. It’s been a long time since I had one of those days, and while I am typically opposed to the idea of not getting anything done, the whole day was pretty liberating. And in the process, I learned the difference between being solo and being alone.
