Sometimes Egg Salad Beats Chocolate and Roses
A look at a happy solo Valentine’s weekend
On Valentine’s weekend, I did not receive flowers or chocolate or go out (or in) with a lover. But, because I was on my own and free to fly where I chose, I was able to:
Meet five wonderful readers on Zoom on Friday. Hey, Dahna, Connie, Louise, Kristi, and Sharon.
Play piano and sing (and weep) at a funeral on Saturday for a man who died too young. It was my small way to offer some comfort to the sobbing widow sitting at my left elbow.
Stop on the way home to write at a beachside park I had not known existed.
Eat an egg salad sandwich, write a poem about it, and take a nap by the fireplace.
Play the ukulele badly with no one to criticize.
Eat pork steak, sauteed vegetables and a sweet potato for my Valentine’s Day dinner and enjoy every bite.
Take a hot bubble bath and read a good book.
Bake apple cheddar muffins for my Sunday breakfast because I needed to use up one aging apple and some leftover cheese. Delicious.
Visit the “Sacred Threads” traveling art quilt exhibit in Yachats that was so beautiful and so powerful, especially with the stories of each quilt posted beside them, that I left feeling I had been to church.
Stop at Books and More in Yachats, replenish my books, and tell tourists looking at my Beaver Creek novels, “That’s me.”
Attend the Cafe Chill open mic where I shared songs on the piano and sang along with other performers, including a homeless guy who poured out his soul on the piano.
Stop on a whim at a drive-up shack in Seal Rock to buy a steak burrito for dinner and chat with the guy in the box. It wasn’t a great burrito, but he was fun to talk to.
Do yoga to soft music on my soft carpet in the living room.
Go for a woodsy walk and pet a sweet black dog.
Belt out “We are the Champions” and “Pinball Wizard” with “Alexa” while I put clean sheets on the bed.
Bake chocolate chip cookies while watching the Olympics, then fall sound asleep on the sofa, tired but happy at the end of a busy weekend.
I could make a different list of the things I missed because I live alone with no romantic partner and no children or grandchildren. But that would just make me sad. In every aspect of life, we take one road or the other. After a mile or two, you can’t go back. It’s too far, and you don’t have enough gas.
My weekend wasn’t all fun. I washed clothes, took out trash, learned that a friend has breast cancer, and mourned the trees the power company has chopped down all over the neighborhood. I slept poorly at night then slept through the Olympic ice skating that I really wanted to see. But I am blessed in so many ways. The rest is not worth complaining about. Roses wilt, and chocolate makes you fat. Let it go.
Let’s talk
This post is too much about me. How was your Valentine’s weekend? Can you list the good things that happened and ignore the rest? Try it. I welcome your comments.
About the photos: These are two of the art quilts from the weekend’s traveling show. I hate that I didn’t get the artist’s name for the first one. The quilt celebrates her slow recovery from back surgery, moving from dark-colored “log cabin” squares to the triumphant image in the center. The other quilt by Susanne Jones of Virginia is titled “Sit Under Your Own Fig Tree, Unafraid.” It looks three-dimensional, but it’s all flat, quilted fabric.
How did I end up alone? My first marriage ended in divorce. My second husband died of Alzheimer’s after we had moved to the Oregon coast, far from family. I never had any kids, only dogs and cats. Now I live by myself in a big house in the woods. You can read our story in my memoir, No Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimer’s, available at your favorite bookseller. Visit https://www.suelick.com for information on all of my books.




That sounds like a perfect weekend in my book! Lucky you 😊 I love coastal Oregon. It’s one of my favorite places on earth. Truly.
Sylvia Boorstein has a great quote, „It wasn’t what I wanted, but it’s what I got.“ I love the way you shifted your focus to see all the blessings and the compassion. Not just what you gave to others but also to yourself. It’s sometimes challenging to find that place, but when it happens, it’s magical. That’s what helps us to face the hard stuff over and over again. ❤️
That second quilt looks like a picture...gorgeous! Sounds like a great weekend to me. And I must try the apple cheddar muffins!