The Ear Worm

Those experienced in the practice of yoga will know and love the word ‘shavasana’ (also known as corpse pose- think of those cartoonish black body shapes). It’s a sort of combined relaxation and meditation position done at the end of a class, time to drift off in my case and let the mind wander through the mind’s forest. The dogs know better than to disturb Mum when she’s lying flat on her back with limbs spread out lest they get poked with an angry finger. However, this week’s yoga flow has been somewhat interrupted by a very annoying ear worm.

A recent interview with a well-known but far too young to be giving life advice actress caused the wiggle.. Having been through a couple of relationships which obviously hadn’t lasted the distance, she stated that she was now in a ‘self-partnership’. The word has been bugging me all week. Apart from the endless need by celebrities and the media to ‘label’ status to make it sound unique to the 21st century, it also sound a bit selfish to me. Whilst I had no choice in becoming a widow and I’m not ready to get involved in another relationship, I don’t think of myself as the above. It sounds very lonely to me and I’m definitely not lonely. Apart from being surrounded by the best of friends and family, I have 10 woofers who never fail to remind me that a life is best shared with dog hair.

A close friend and one of equal living alone but with fur balls situation, put our positions into perspective. He said the reason why we are happy in our current state is because we have self-confidence and that in turn stops us from feeling lonely or worried about labels. Learning to have that self-confidence for me has been part of my widow’s journey and I’m proud of myself for that. If someone had told me last year that I would be about to put the house on the market and leave Dog Hollow with absolutely no idea of where or what lies ahead in the year to come, I would have assumed they were referring to someone else. Whilst I will never use such a pretentious word as ‘self-partnered’, I am becoming more comfortable with me, myself and I. Plus 10.

“Dogs got personality. Personality goes a long way.” (Quentin Tarantino)