My
son-in-law recently posted this interchange between their two daughters on
facebook:
Josie
(to her younger sister): “No, Anna! I want to be alone!”
And
three-year old Anna responds: “I want to watch you be alone, Josie.”
Seven-year
old Josie is the most gregarious of our four granddaughters and never sees a
stranger, but I can already see in her this genuine need to sometimes be
alone. Anna doesn’t understand this very
well yet.
John
is off playing golf today, and, like Josie, I am enjoying my time alone.
After
I met John, while we were just beginning to get to know each other, in one of
the first emails I ever sent him, I told him I was the kind of person who
needed a lot of time alone. If we were
going to be coupled, it was something I thought he needed to know.
To
his credit, John has always perfectly understood this. And if from time to time I need to spend time
away from him, he understands and doesn’t take it personally.
Hardly
a day goes by that I don’t feel thankful he is in my life, but there are times
when I’m glad for him to not be around—to watch me be alone.
