taking a bath with the neighbors.

People often ask me what it is like to live alone as a “single” woman – or at least what the rest of the world considers as “single”. Well, Narry lives in a tiny, little apartment often referred to as “Narry’s Hole” or just “The Hole”. Like the nickname, “Narry”, “Narry’s Hole” caught on pretty quick and most people will use both terms on a daily basis.

What is it like being “single” and living alone? Awesome. No, I do not parade around wearing only what the good lawd gave me, but I can do anything I want and I can go out and come back any time of the day and night without explaining to anyone where I have been.  Worrying or thinking “oh no, he’s going to be home around 7, I should probably be there to help him with it”. Umn, I have no idea who “he” is and what this “it” is that I am apparently supposed to help him with, but you get the idea.

The other side of being “single” and living alone often means that you do not have someone to talk to at 3 in the morning, when you have the most random thoughts and NEED to share it with someone. I have a few close friends who I often text at that time – just because I know that they do not mind, and most likely have the similar random thoughts – around the same time. They understand.

Most of the time, when you do feel alone, you are not really as alone as you might think you are. Like tonight – I ran my bath and just when things got quiet, I heard the downstairs neighbor running her bath too. This is not the first time this happened and for some reason I find it a little odd. Having a bath with my neighbor – her bath is directly under mine – one floor down. After she ran her bath I heard a man’s voice and quickly realized that her boyfriend was the one who was taking the bath. Let’s rather not talk about that being odd.

All of a sudden he shouted from the bath, asking her to bring him a washcloth. After that I could hear every word and filled the role of the silent partner in this conversation. Partner, because I could hear the entire conversation. Silent, because I could not talk or comment. Maybe tomorrow night I will try to speak up.

Who will feel odd then?