When You Are Single Single

When you are single single you do what you have to in order to take care of things as they come up. Nowadays the second single matters. 😉 Being a single woman, you have to be resourceful and that is something I have always been. As I shared in my Building Community & Giving Back post, I have found it hard to build a strong community in Oregon as opposed to in Michigan and Texas. As such, I have had to rely on myself even more. 

A couple of days ago I noticed my ice maker was not making as much ice. Finally, by last night it stopped altogether. I thought I was going to have to call someone, however, before I took that step I had to give myself, and YouTube, a chance to fix it. Enter TheRenderQ with a helpful ice maker video. I followed his helpful steps and this morning I had beautiful ice! I felt very proud of myself.

Also this week, an under-desk treadmill that I ordered arrived. The treadmill weighs about 80lbs and it was delivered in a large box that I had to get it up a flight of stairs. I took my time, sliding the box one step at a time. I had to be careful not to trip or hurt my back. The box said it should have been carried by two people, but as I said… single single. 🙂 I am sure that I could have gotten help but I did not want to wait so up the stair I went. 

In thinking about my accomplishments this week I remembered when started at the University of Michigan. I moved in during the summer because I was part of the 1991 Bridge program. After graduating from high school, my family and I went to Puerto Rico, which I enjoyed. However, since I was starting at Michigan I went back by myself and my family stayed in PR. The day I was to move in my uncle had to work so he dropped me off in front of the housing office. The office was closed so I sat on a cement bench outside of the building by myself with my suitcase and pillow. I could see families in parked cars across from where I sat. I felt bad being there by myself but I did not have time to dwell on that, I had a plan to devise.

I decided that I would enter the building, find someone to hold my suitcase, do what I needed to do there, and then get a cab to the dorm and that’s exactly what I did. I felt much better after checking in to the dorm and going to my room. Once my older brother came back from PR, he brought me a few more things from our house, which made me feel more at home in my dorm room. Shortly after starting the Bridge program, I made an amazing friend named Phina.

One day Phina shared that she saw me on our first day when I was sitting outside of the housing office. She told me that her mom was very impressed that I was there by myself. I had not thought about what I did that day as impressive or something to be proud of, but it was. I handled all of my business that day at the tender age of 17. I guess that is why I am how I am. Nothing stops me and I wait on no one. I hope my daughter gets to see that she too can do anything and that she does not have to wait on anyone in order to make magic happen. 😉 Her mami did it/does it and she can do it too.