Never Shave Above the Knee Unless You're Expecting Company

If there is a benefit to being the long-suffering woman in a long-term long-distance relationship, I have to say that there are three. 

1. Showers are optional.
2. Sweatpants/yoga pants/flannel PJs are mandatory.
3. No shaving is necessary.

Does that sound gross?  I would apologize if I felt sorry at all.  But I don't.  Each of these is somehow related, but also independent of each other.  And, every day that I am separated from Andy, I do appreciate that these three things make every day life without him a little bit easier and a little more enjoyable. 

Most of my Andy-free days are spent wallowing in the same clothes for days at a time in the same spot on the couch, with various casebooks, highlighters and empty Coke zero cans haphazardly arranged in a circle around me.  I can't say I enjoy the boyfriend-free zone, but the warm fuzziness of my green fleece blanket and a new season of Dexter from Netflix make the alone time more enjoyable than it would otherwise be.  And, really, who likes to shave?  Or shower.

Although I consider myself quite an accomplished baker, I rarely take the time to cook anything of consequence when I'm here in West Virginia.  Unless, of course, I get a new edition of Martha Stewart Living.  Something about the bright, seasonally decorated pages puts me in a cooking frame of mind.  I have to admit, I did subscribe to the magazine out of a thin glimmer of pathetic hope that one day soon I will be a wife and, in that line of thinking, I told myself quite firmly that I would have to master a much broader arrange of culinary arts in order to please a husband with a discriminating palate.  I need to encourage myself to stay away from the microwaveable soups, sandwiches, instant oatmeal and bagels that make up so much of my at-school diet.  Its hard to find much motivation to cook for one, though.  Still, I try to tell myself that this is a life I will never live again and that I need to enjoy it to the fullest.  After this year, the amount of time I will get to spend watching Dexter in yoga pants after going to the gym and then not showering will be slim to none.  Especially if I get married, which I definitely hope I do.  He told me he's saving for a ring, and I'm definitely hoping to set a date for sometime next September.  So, that just reaffirms this simple fact: You can't always be a carefree twentysomething girl living alone.  One day, your world will change and maybe, just maybe, you'll miss the days you spent, just sitting on the couch, reading endlessly from casebooks, in yoga pants and an old sorority t-shirt, messy hair pulled up in a bun on top of your head, with legs a little like Sasquatch.  It's a little like freedom.