Being lonely can differ from being alone. I am a person who is alone most of the time, mostly due to circumstances of necessity, but also at times by choice. I may be quite busy while I am alone or I may be using the time to read, think, relax, or for any number of less active things. I work alone, I often walk alone. I spend the biggest part of the non-sleeping day alone. The winter months find me more housebound than usual, so almost all of my time, alone or otherwise, is spent inside the apartment. This can lead to boredom, restlessness, both over-motivation and under-motivation, laziness and, yes, sometimes, loneliness. Now, don't get me wrong...for the most part, I do not mind being alone. I find I can often get more accomplished and I like being in charge of my daily activities, and I can often work past the negative moods that might creep in. Loneliness, though, is often the most difficult.

Edie is my only constant contact when it comes to physically being with another person. I do get to see my parents for different reasons throughout the winter and, on lesser occassions, I get to interact with others in person. If it wasn't for the telephone and the computer, I would have little opportunity to see or speak with other people, though, and those people would most likely be workers at banks, stores, the laundromat, library, or passers-by while out on one of my rare winter walks. So, although being alone so much can trigger feelings of loneliness at any time, it does bring about loneliness even more during the winter and it is the most difficult time of the year for me to deal with it.

With the holidays and early birthday celebrations behind us and a gap until any new events should occur, with me usually not having the car in my possession and the winter's storms and cold being a deterrent for me to go walking anywhere, it was only too easy for loneliness to settle in and take over my emotions. Telephone calls and the computer helped to ease the symptoms somewhat, but I truly needed to be in the physical presence of people, to actually interact with people. Thank goodness my mom needed me to go to some doctor's visits with her and I had my housecleaning job on two Saturday afternoons because, otherwise, I would have only had Edie to keep me company. No real complaints there, by any means, but Edie's working schedule and her need to have some personal time to herself could only fill so much of my time and need for actually having some in-person human contact.

Was it just a coincidence that a long-time friend (since kindergarten) who now lives in New Hampshire and seldom visits during anytime other than the "better weather months" called to say she would be coming to RI for a couple of days and staying with her parents, who just happen to live one town away from me? And, was it just a coincidence that a mutual friend (since 1st grade), who happens to be my best friend, was as free as I was to do a little visiting, too? Was it just a coincidence that all three of us were able to get together on the same night?

Well, that visit took place! The three of us...Donna, Diane and Debbie (better known as The 3 D's since high school days)...gathered at my friend's parents house for an evening of talking and a lot of laughing! It turns out that Diane was missing us soooo much that she made up her mind to come to RI in spite of it being winter...and, it turns out that Debbie had been longing to get together with friends she's been missing, too! Because Diane's birthday was falling on a day later that week, leave it to Debbie and me to turn the visit into a little bit of a birthday party! Debbie brought the cake and I brought the card and gift!

Do you know how great it was that we got together? It was nice and fun, relaxed and silly, just like a good visit should be. And, do you know what? My loneliness disappeared that night. It was gone. And, so far, I'm happy to say it hasn't returned.




Three Friends (Diane, Donna, and Debbie)



Known as The 3 D's



Quite the Characters



Loving to Laugh