Andrew J. Lederer

I've been alone for most of the day.

I generally like being alone.

But in some sense, I feel like that fabled tree that falls in a forest -- without a companion, I simply don't make a noise.

You know, I've not been alone that much lately, so I've been "noisier" than usual. My hijinks have had a witness, my life an audience.

And maybe the person I've been spending so much time with will remain in my life for a long time, sharing my noise and making some noise that only I can hear.

But I'm mindful of the fact that there are people who were in my life for a long time who are no longer around to make me feel noisy. I'm not talking about dead people, I'm talking about people who live in places I used to live or worked at jobs alongside me; people I went to the movies with and shared dreams with and borrowed money from. People I helped write important letters for and stuff like that; things that changed their lives.

They haven't abandoned me. They're where they are and I'm where I am.

But these people whose lives were intertwined with mine are now separate; intertwined with others, with people I don't even know.

Will today's life become another early chapter in my saga or will it furnish a satisfying denouement of some kind? I just don't know.

But I'm glad I probably won't be alone tomorrow.