Opinion

Alone again ... unnaturally

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

I love my family, but I have to admit I really like my solitary time.

My husband and I sometimes don't understand one another when it comes to spending time alone.

My husband's grandparents were married more than 60 years before Grandpa passed on a couple of years ago, and his parents just celebrated their 40th anniversary last yea. It seems the blueprint for their successes are rooted in a simple concept -- Do everything together.

I am totally serious when I say that.

When Grandpa was alive, Grandma never took so much as a trip to the grocery store without him. They both worked up until they were in their 60s, and from what I could gather they rarely spent a moment apart when they weren't at their jobs.

Once they retired, they really became attached at the hip. I have to really rack my brain to think of a time when I saw one of them without the other.

My husband's parents aren't quite that severe, but it's close. My mother-in-law takes yoga classes and goes out to lunch with her girlfriends once in a while sans my father-in-law, and he goes golfing now and again, but by and large, if they're not working they're together.

There are those who need to be around people all the time, and my husband seems to be one of those people In the years we've been together it's taken me some time to get used to that, because I actually enjoy being alone sometimes.

Our son left Saturday to spend four days with Andy's parents and then five days with mine. When we found ourselves alone on Saturday night, we didn't quite know what to do.

We grilled out, and then I got into my comfy clothes and we settled onto the couch to watch television ... only to find there was nothing on that both of us wanted to watch (I did not want to watch auto racing and he didn't want to watch a Lifetime movie).

My husband suggested going to town and getting a movie.

"You run in and pick one up," I said.

He looked at me blankly.

"You're not going with me?"

So I ended up getting dressed and going with him, even though I was perturbed.

My husband has worked the past two nights, and I have had the house to myself.

It's been kind of nice ... I've watched those Lifetime movies. I've read books. I've eaten Pizza Rolls as meals. I've napped. I've taken hour-long baths during which no one has needed my immediate attention.

Yep, I've had two good days ... but I admit I'm starting to miss my guys a little. I'm glad Andy and I will actually have dinner together tonight, and by the time Will comes home this weekend I will be missing him like crazy.

I don't want to be lonely, but once in a while I don't mind being alone.