On Solitude

I spent a week alone in that little A-Frame beach cottage recently.  I did have some time with friends who dropped by, making sure I was okay…but mostly, I spent the time alone contemplating changing seasons, preparing solo meals, reading paperback books.  I took long walks by the water, wading in the surf, gathering shells and taking photographs.

Solitude doesn’t have to be lonely. Time alone can be healing.

Be able to be alone, because it’s there we can think our own thoughts, and hear our own voices, and learn to be our own companion.    

“I thought of you and how you love this beauty,

And walking up the long beach all alone

I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder

As you and I once heard their monotone.

Around me were the echoing dunes, beyond me

The cold and sparkling silver of the sea —

We two will pass through death and ages lengthen

Before you hear that sound again with me.”

― Sara Teasdale