solo

In 2008, I signed up for an REI Adventures hiking trip to Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon.  After moving away from Nova Scotia in 2000, I used my measly vacation time for trips home in the summer and at Christmas.  With the corporate job, I had more time off and the $ to take a real vacation.   I signed up on my own but would not be alone.

In the previous year, I’d finally got my driver’s license and I’d finally uncoupled myself.  The trip caused another shift in confidence.  I met the physical challenges and went beyond.  I hiked in and out of the canyon.  I climbed down and up a rock face.  I jumped over and through waterfalls.  I played well with others.  I had fun.  I saw bigger possibilities for life-on-my-own.  I started to unfold at 43 years old at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

After adopting Greta in 2001, I would receive info on the cat shelter’s yearly fund-raising auction and try to imagine ever being in a position to pay $100 for a ticket.  It seemed like something just for rich folk.  In 2008, after a lot of deliberation, I went to the auction on my own.  I was surrounded by cat lovers.  These were my people.  The auction became my hands-down favoUrite event of the year for the next nine years.  I went with friends in other years, but the 2008 auction was pivotal because I saw how I could enjoy events on my own.

I went on to attend jazz fests, the Seattle Symphony, and classical concerts by myself.  It quickly became liberating: I wasn’t dependent on anyone else to do the things I wanted to do.  It wasn’t better or worse going with or without a friend, it was just different.

Back in Nova Scotia now, the nearby community where I take yoga classes is busy with arts, theatre, and music activities May through October.  I’ve been seizing the opportunities before the quiet of winter repeats.  There is no room in the SLSR budget for these events but I was gifted $ at Christmas that I allocated to Arts and Entertainment.  I bought a season’s pass to the theatre to enjoy original plays and concerts in a small venue.  I discovered twice-monthly movies on a big screen that run all year long—a bargain at only $5.

And it’s not all been solo.  Just last week, two friends went with me to the Hollywood movie starring four women aged 65-80.  We were all doing our hearts good in that room packed with white hair and full of laughter.  Then on the weekend, a friend and I went to a theater in my hometown to watch a new play* about Mona Parsons, a Nova Scotian woman who was arrested in Holland and imprisoned during the Second World War for being part of the Dutch Resistance.  With my entertainment choices, I’m grateful I can still make a little vote with my $ for theatres, plays, concerts, movies, artists, and topics I want to support.

*The Bitterest Time: The War Story of Mona Parsons.

References and related links:

• REI: Recreational Equipment, Inc.
• SLSR: simpler living semi-retirement.
• Nova Scotia Heritage Day 2018 Honoree Mona Louise Parsons (SOURCE: Province of Nova Scotia site).