Alone but Not Alone

It's really, really late, and I have had a few glasses of wine, so I am going to keep this brief. The options, in this condition, are either brief, or endless; trust me: I think you will prefer brief. The reason I was able to go out this evening and have a lingering dinner with friends, is because today--for the first day in years--I was without child and without dog, a state I will maintain through Sunday. I am in a wedding this weekend, and because we are going to a very remote part of Connecticut for the wedding, and because the girls are not going to the wedding, my parents took them, and the dogs, to Massachusetts for the next few days. I had big plans for this day--the only day I did not have wedding obligations--and of course I mostly frittered them away. But I will not lie to you: To not have to think about where I was going and when I was coming back and knowing that I was not paying somebody else for the luxury of my solitude was pleasant, maybe even more than that. That being said, I now feel as though I understand the concept of the "phantom limb." Sleep well, girls. I will, I think, but I will dream of you.