I was on my way home from work on the subway the other day. We're getting more tourists with the warmer weather, and a mother and daughter were sitting near me. She was about 8 and started asking me questions, such as how long it took me to get home. And about my riding the subway — "All by yourself?" she asked, incredulously.
I think about how much I've done on my own, times I've lived alone, driven for hours, travelled a few places in the world with the faith I would get where I was going just fine, "all by myself." There is no better way of getting to know oneself than in the time spent alone, times for private thoughts and to drink in the details of the world. And yet the question was about something so ordinary as a subway ride!
We don't always have a choice about companionship; sometimes the only way to get somewhere is set off on our own. If we always needed an escort, we'd be waiting in one place for a long time!
And yet these days I seldom feel alone. As each place becomes familiar to me I feel I know the other faces. I often see the Lwa in the people along the way. Once you get to know the Lwa, you are never completely alone ever again.
Love, Khouzhan Lucy
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