Professional Fiancee, The Gentlemen's Companion

You are sitting at your table alone. You look up from your menu and spy a beautiful woman across the room from you. You take her in with your eyes. Her frame is elegant and the way she tilts her head and brushes the hair back from her face is captivating. She is alone.

She catches your gaze and drops her eyes, embarrassed, she blushes. You hold your gaze and she glances back, takes a deep breath and gets up from her chair. She is walking over to you.

For a split second you panic, thinking you have upset her, but her eyes are soft and she smiles and says … “this restaurant is far too lovely to dine alone, would you mind if I join you?”

For the real traveler the journey always begins in the heart. Unsure of the destination, it is always about immersing oneself in the river of the present, the flowing here and now, never letting a moment pass … drinking it in.

“The only meaning to life is the one that we give it.” Anais Nin

Giving yourself permission to look after you is important. If you do not care for you, how can you give of yourself to anyone else? You can’t. Take time to be still, to reflect and rejuvenate. You deserve it, but more so, you need it.

I have dined alone. I have looked up from my book and realized that the restaurant is full, but it is full with lone diners. Together, alone.

If only we were brave enough to say hello, make new friends, begin something … or not, just being present in the moment with a stranger.

I have no illusions about this world. It is cold, fickle and just plain unfair, but there are those of us who reject the hand we were dealt and rise above, change the rules and live … really live. It requires great strength step outside the bounds of mediocrity and be a free spirit. I am one who is brave enough … are you?