Dependent: it is interesting as we grow and continue in life. We start as children completely dependent, then we progress and -hopefully- become independent. Here is where some people hit a rut. They think this is it. You are independent and you have arrived! You can stop. You can live alone, work alone, eat, drink, and sleep alone. You are an independent being, and you have arrived. You can make decisions, move cities, change jobs, you can do it all...on your own. Independent however, is not the last step. If you are simply independent you are still in a bit of a juvenile phase, alone is easy, it is selfish, it is predictable, it is safe. What you need is to become interdependent.  It is the last phase of dependency and by far the most difficult I feel, because it requires such honesty. One of my favorite relationships I have ever had with a man ended, because of this. He wanted to do life alone, and even though we loved each other, it did not out weigh his desire to prove he could do a very difficult phase in his life all on his own. {this of course is my analysis, I am sure if I were to reconnect and ask him he would deny it, but it's my blog so I write what I want} Not sure why I thought of that today here in Chicago but I did, while walking along the river.  And I really do think it is an important concept, one I would do well to re-evaluate because being single and being independent unfortunately favor each other, and act like 2 peas in a pod. -but they aren't!-

the following photo has nothing to do with what I just wrote....but who doesn't love the Chicago bean?