Sundays sometimes stink! :'-(

OK, I figured that title might get your attention! Get ready for a bit of a rant...it's been bottled up for a while, but I must say something at last. This year Sunday afternoons have been very difficult for me. Why? Well, ever since most of my closest friends "coupled off" and we stopped our evening film theatre (and what with different friends attending different services at different times and our service now starting at 10 AM instead of 12 AM), I am usually left alone ALL day long... Which for a social "Tigger" like me, is, well, quite honestly, very lonely and B-O-R-I-N-G!!! (with all capitals!)

Of course, I understand that my couple friends prefer usually to spend their day off either alone or with one of their families, gearing up for their permanent coupling. But, for singles w/o local family, like me, it is difficult to be continually patient with them, especially after I hear that they went somewhere fun, but only with other couples (not thinking to invite their single, family-less friends to join them).

Now, I am very used to being a "3rd nostril" (as I call it - or 3rd wheel as most others call it) - the odd man out or the one that doesn't quite fit in...b/c for most of my growing up years I was dancing to the beat of a different drum (until I moved here and finally felt "normal" for the first time outside my own family) and also b/c I was the official chaperone for both of my sisters' courting years. So, I really don't mind being a single person amongst couples...

But, what I do mind very much is often being left out by close friends with whom I used to hang out a lot just b/c I don't have a 2nd "half" attached to my hip (as if I'm not a whole person w/o a "significant other" - ha!) (unless I force my company on them - which I don't really feel comfortable to do b/c I don't like to make them feel uncomfortable). And on the other hand, people here should know by now that I really enjoy it when friends stop by to visit me (unless I'm sick and need to sleep) - no special invitation needed - just B.Y.O.S. (meaning "bring your own self").

Now to be fair, I think that my "coupled" friends simply do not realize how difficult Sundays are for me - with no family nearby and no single friends who have free time when I have free time... Except on rare occasion, Sunday is a long, lonely, boring day and I can't even call most of my family for a chat until late evening, b/c of the big time and schedule difference. I am social by nature - it's in my the fibres of my being - so, I prefer to be connected most of the time...

Well, enough babbling already. I hope that your Sunday is pleasant and full of friends and family. And if you are blessed with family living nearby (or hey, even in the same time zone or 2), don't forget to visit or call them and tell them how much you love them. Often we don't realize how precious/priceless family is until we don't have them nearby or they're gone... That said, I'm truly very thankful for having such a loving, supportive family, even though they are all far, far, far away!