nobody wants to be lonely

Just the other day, my co-worker and I were having a discussion about loneliness. The kind of loneliness that drapes you like your grandma's heavy curtains, tangling your emotions in its heavy cloth. That feeling of isolation all women have from time to time. Lovers, children, bills, work...all take their toll on the feminine soul. She said sometimes she feels as if she doesn't know where she fits in the world. Now this wasn't a "jumping from a ledge" type conversation, but simply a woman-to-woman conversation. I've had these emotions from time to time, but I've also learned there's a difference between being alone and being lonely. Lonely is when you have no one to love or turn to for affection; alone is when you're just by yourself, maybe for just the moment or by choice. Lonely would not describe me. I have friends and interests to keep me occupied enough to enjoy my life. I'm still looking for Miss Forever and Always, but with patience she'll come. I'm letting God deliver the right woman to me. The discussion made me think about one of the saddest books I've read recently, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted by E.Lynn Harris. The popular, much acclaimed author chronicled his life in great detail from his childhood to the present. What disturbed me was his constant search for approval and his need to never be alone, even if it meant sacrificing his well-being and mortality. That's the kind of loneliness that I've been fortunate to never have. Cause I love me. And when you have you, you're never lonely -- or alone.