Home Alone

8/14/10 To some this phrase brings delightful anticipation. To many it brings sadness, fear and dread. To others, a calm resolve of acceptance.

For the last few days, I have been a member of the first group. My quiet house is a refuge---no one home but me. That’s a big contrast to last week’s hub-bub. (Which I also loved.) With everyone gone, even hubby, I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth. I’m going to enjoy “no cooking” needed---I can recycle pantry and fridge items for days. I plan on sleeping without a fan---hubby needs the noise to block the tinnitus induced ringing in his ears. I will not select channel 827 on the remote (PGA GOLF)---I probably won’t even turn on the TV. I can pray aloud and sing (a joyful noise) without worrying about being derisively labeled a “happy-clappy.”

Yet, I know I can feel this way because my “aloneness” is temporary and times of separation can be good. I have seen couples struggle when both retire and neither is ever home alone. Mother used to say she married Daddy for better or for worse but not for lunch----lunch/daytime was her time.
Others are facing a life of “home alone.” Just last week, high school chum, Candy Harned Wynn lost her hubby, Jack, only 7 months after onset of an illness. Her’s is not temporary. Her’s is not by choice. Yet, she has sought the only one who can comfort her in her time of aloneness. In an e-mail yesterday she wrote, “There were so many blessings throughout this whole journey, special "gifts" that gave us such encouragement, hope and affirmation that God was present with us every step of the way. I truly hope to share those with you someday in the near future.” Candy knows the God who “will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5)

My “home alone” time is not only temporary in nature, but also short in time frame. I know that the one who does dishes (a lot), listens to my laments and rubs not only my back but also my feet will soon be coming home. That makes this aloneness different from loneliness. I am not lonely, just alone---that’s a lot more bearable.
Plus, if I do get lonely I can always go turn on the golf channel loud enough so that I can still hear it when I leave the room. Then it will seem like I am no longer “home alone.”