There are a lot of strange milestones when you suddenly find yourself single in your mid-30s.
Some of them are emotional.
Some of them are reflective.
And some of them are… unexpected.
Like the first time someone calls you “ma’am.”
Now let me clarify something.
I am not old.
I am simply a woman who has lived through some things.
But apparently the universe decided that the same year my long-term relationship ended was also the year society collectively decided I had entered my “ma’am era.”
The moment happened in a grocery store.
Of course it did.
Because grocery stores have somehow become the center of my new life.
I was standing there trying to remember whether my son actually likes this brand of cereal or if he only liked it for one week before declaring it “the worst thing ever.”
A young guy stocking shelves walked past me and said,
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
Ma’am.
I remember looking around for a second to see if maybe there was an older woman standing behind me.
There wasn’t.
It was me.
I was the ma’am.
And suddenly I realized something.
Life had officially shifted into a new chapter.
Not the chapter where you’re the young woman figuring everything out.
But the chapter where you’re the woman who has been through some things.
The woman who has rebuilt parts of her life.
The woman who now sleeps in the middle of the bed because she can.
The woman who occasionally gets hit with classic pick-up lines in the cereal aisle and just stands there thinking,
Sir, I am buying fruit snacks and laundry detergent. Please calm down.
The truth is, starting over in your mid-30s is strange.
It’s uncomfortable sometimes.
It’s unfamiliar.
But there are also moments where you catch yourself laughing at how absurd life can be.
Because somewhere between heartbreak, healing, and learning how to cook for fewer people…
you also discover something else.
A version of yourself that doesn’t take life quite as seriously as she used to.
And honestly?
That version of me might actually be my favorite so far.
Sit With Me Awhile 
Leave a comment