A Quiet Spot and a Good Book

Posted on October 26, 2008
Filed Under Daily, Newlywed | Leave a Comment

Once upon a time in Spain there was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand.
All the other little bulls he lived with would run and jump and butt their heads together, but not Ferdinand.
He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers.
-Munro Leaf, The Story of Ferdinand

I’m kind of like a Lone Wolf.
But not in a creepy way.

I mean, you’d never see me lurking around a school bus stop staring at little kids or standing on a city corner alone at night — I just like to spend time alone.

I like to sit out on the deck wrapped in the hot rays of the sun. I walk to the local park for the swings, fresh air, sights and sounds. I do better without a workout buddy and as weird as you might think I am, I often enjoy eating alone, too.

I like to be in my own thoughts. It gives me time to reflect, invent, imagine and reminisce.

Now that I’m married I realize that time by yourself comes in smaller doses: driving to work, going to a doctor’s appointment, running errands.

But having less time for “me” is not bad.

I’ve discovered a sense of peace in going on walks with The Boss, cooking and eating our meals together and just sitting together, even if no one is talking, knowing that we have that level of compatibility.

I just like to know he’s there.

We do a lot of things together now, even if it doesn’t take two people to accomplish a particular task; I guess that’s part of being a newlywed.

But recently, I went out for a few errands and it just so happened that I went by myself.

Now that the fall weather is actually starting to act like fall weather, the temperature has been dropping, and we even had three rainy days in a row.

On my way out, I took a slightly longer route to get to where I needed to go because I love a particular road. It’s about two minutes out of the way but the twists and bends along the path and the lush tree canopy dancing against a backdrop of thick clouds makes those two minutes all the more worth going against what TomTom would prefer you do.

As I came closer to where the secluded two-lane road ends and opens into a slightly busier, corporate area I saw a man alone on a bench in his yard.

He was wearing a blue windbreaker, jeans and brown boots sitting with one leg folded over the other. In one hand he was holding an umbrella and in the other, a thick novel — and the picture of it all made me smile. I appreciated his commitment to a good book and the fact that he found his own private spot. But mostly I found joy in knowing that like me, he too appreciates solidarity with his thoughts and nature.