I should get out more often.

Many older people  (such as I) who are widowed, divorced, or single have to fight the impulse to stay at home, and to be isolated from human companionship.
 
For instance I often think and say "I am quite happy to be at home alone with my dog and cats".
 
That is true.  But too often it becomes the truth. 
 
This is dangerous. Isolation can lead to insulation from the cares and joys of a bigger world.
 
In other words, although my home life with my pets (and with a good book) is very pleasant and comfortable, I cannot and must not settle for solitariness, seductive as it is.
 
Since it is seductive I often have to force myself to get out of the house and to enjoy other people.
 
This was the case last Friday, and also today (Sunday 30th March 2014). 
 
I had invitations for both evenings, but I spent many waking hours on Friday and today to conjure up some excuse or other, and to send last minute regrets to my hosts. (Of course  I could not do so without shaving the truth.)
 
So out I went.
 
On Friday to Longboat Key for dinner  where my Pittsfield (and now Wolfeborough N.H.) friends Jack and Pat have a time share.  Pat's sister Nancy and brother in law Roger were there, down in Florida for a week from their home in Reston VA.
 
I HAD A BALL.  'Twas great company, with great food and great conversation.
 
Tonight to visit with my local friends Bill and Patrick, and to have drinks and hors d'oeuvres in order  to honour their guest from Minneapolis - Nancy.
 
I HAD A BALL.  The nibbles were super, Bill and Pat's guest Nancy was utterly charming, and a handful of my other friends were there.  (Patrick's sisters Mary and Betty winter here and were at the party.  Mary is so very funny that I was in danger of wetting myself.
 
It is good to get out when I have the nouse to stir my bones.
 
I am lucky to have friends who want to share my company.
 
So in the coming week I will have:
 
 tea and cookies with my friends Ron and Char on Monday afternoon;
 
dinner on Tuesday evening at our local Crepe restaurant with my neighbours Ed and Eddie  just before Eddie travels goes up to North Carolina for the summer;
 
lunch on Thursday with my Priest at St. Boniface (the Revd. Andi Taylor) and her husband Jonathan;
 
and coffee on Friday with a new Church friend Billie Harris (she is formally Willmena Harris) so that we can get to know each other a little better.
 
Beats isolation eh?
 
 
 
 
 
Location: Sarasota, FL, USA

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