Just Me

It used to be that I was surrounded by other parents--those out of work, or work-from-home, or stay-at-home, or just somehow around. We'd talk, or not, but there were a lot of us, using (or killing) the time while we waited for our kids.

These days, mostly it's just me. I am neither unemployed (as I once was) nor work-from-home or stay-at-home. I'm just here.

Perhaps everyone else's circumstances have changed--mine certainly have since the days when I raced in from work. Or perhaps our kids are just older, more independent, less needing of our presence, and I simply haven't quite realized that yet.

So, I sit, just me, using time, or killing it, wondering if I am lucky to be here, or crazy to stay so close, wondering when "just me" will turn into "not even me."

"Just me" can be a little lonely. We want to know that we have company, that we fit, that our choices are like others' choices. But that's not always possible. Sometimes, to do what we want to and to be who we would like to be, we have to accept--and embrace--"just me." Because there's a time to do what others are doing. And there's a time to make a different choice--one that sometimes calls for "just me."