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I Met Someone Today

Who made me rethink dating

Colleen Sheehy Orme
3 min readAug 29, 2022
Photo by Karolina Grabowska:On Pexels

I order a salad.

I’m exhausted, sad, and hungry. There’s no food in the fridge which sends me toward this restaurant. It’s been six days since I lost my sweet chocolate lab, Hazel, The Girl Who Helped Me Raise 3 Boys.

I’ve got zero interest in men.

It’s not the breakup. We’ve been breaking up since we were sixteen. It’s a part of life. One that gets unmistakably confused in adulthood, aka, divorce. The actual breakup is the least of my worries.

But I didn’t break up with a man.

I couldn’t free myself from him. I often say I was more controlled in divorce than in marriage. I have no desire to date. There’s been way too elongated heartache.

I order my food and ask the waitress if the rose is sweet or dry.

She ushers me a taste. The man sitting next to me asks if it’s sweet. Nope, it’s just what I prefer, a bit dry. My eyes fight to stay open. I’ve been crying for days.

Animal lovers will understand my grief.

Others will not.

I’m here to fill my stomach due to an empty refridgerator and heart.

The guy next to me is happier. He’s not escaping emotion today. He’s not hiding in plain sight as…

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Colleen Sheehy Orme
Colleen Sheehy Orme

Written by Colleen Sheehy Orme

National Relationship Columnist, Journalist & Former Business Columnist. I cover love, life, & relationships— #WomanResurrected colleen.sheehy.orme@gmail.com

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