I turned 34 a couple of weeks ago. It happened on a Monday amidst the usual family bustle, and also as it happens, at the beginning of a bad stretch of anxiety. A serendipitous meeting the previous month with a PR led to me booking a solo hotel stay at The Gallivant for my birthday, and it ended up coming at the most perfect possible time. It was heavenly.
The experience of being alone was just bliss. I simply pleased myself. I had a pedicure, ordered room service breakfast, journaled in the window seat. I made liberal use of the toiletries kindly gifted by the hotel; the body oil, foot cream and face mask. I journaled some more. I went for a walk at golden hour and was moved to tears by the sunset reflecting off the wet sand which placed the sky beneath me and above me. I was aware of my family and thought of them, but I just knew deep in my guts that I needed this. (Truthfully I needed 2 or 3 nights of it, but we couldn’t spare me for that long!)
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