This weekend, my husband is in Las Vegas with his brothers and their dad. Being the creative, independent woman that I am, I took the opportunity to drive down to Athens, Ohio for a film festival.
This wasn’t the first time I drove down to Athens by myself to do something awesome. Two years ago, Kristin and Dannielle of Everyone Is Gay came to Ohio University as part of their college tour. I had just moved to Columbus, and I was so excited at the prospect of finally meeting two of my favorite feminists. I couldn’t get anyone to go with me, but that didn’t deter me.
Meeting Kristin and Dannielle was amazing.
Seeing independent films and meeting filmmakers was amazing.
But the cool stuff I did is less important than the act of doing it, and doing it alone.
I used to live in France, where I discovered the joys of going out alone. I dined alone, went shopping alone, read books in parks alone, and eventually even traveled alone.
Falling in love with Dan didn’t eliminate my independent streak. While I love spending time with him, and our shared adventures are my favorites, I don’t need him by my side to attend cool events.
Sometimes we want to do different things. Sometimes I can’t find a friend to join me in my different things. So I do them myself.
I’m not just okay with doing my own thing–I relish it! I might not always love driving all the way to Athens and back by myself, but I do love my freedom and independence and total comfort in solitary adventures.
So this weekend I went to a film festival.
What did you do?
