Lately I’ve had more time to think. A couple of my closest friends have gone off to the hinterlands, places like New York and the North Carolina coast (they don’t know this, of course, but anywhere I am is the center of the universe), so I am lately alone a bit more.
Sometimes being alone feels like a gift. Sometimes, it feels like pure bloody hell. At other times, being alone can bring quiet surprises.
I did have a thought which may not seem terribly significant, but it came within a minor awakening that crept in on the edge of an equally minor disappointment.
What I thought was this: “You don’t always get what you want, but if you look a bit farther ahead, you might find that you can give what you like to receive.”
It’s all there, inside you. On some days, you might have to dig a little deeper to find it, but when you do, you’ll feel like you’ve reinvented the wheel.
Small Italian boy at Rome’s flea market, 1970
Ah loneliness. I know it well. The room can be filled or empty and loneliness can still creep in. Yet when I realize I am connected to everybody and everything the loneliness shifts into an explosion of joy and wonder. The key is to remember when I am so busy forgetting.