It's just that it's hard for loners to run into each other and strike up friendships...because they don't get out that much.
I had terrific plans to hang out with a person who I adore this weekend, but at 2:30am this morning, I woke up to an odd sensation in my left eye. I won't go into too much ghastly detail, but I will say that my eyeball felt like it was going to pop like a balloon. You guessed it, conjunctivitis. I didn't cruise into work today...worked from home a bit. And I went to retail type healthcare center and got some high-grade eye drops.
Anyway, the person who wanted to hang around with me is this real hardcore loner I know from work. She has really isolated herself in the last couple of years. We hung out a few times last year, but it was difficult to get her to commit to any kind of plan, no matter how simple. Or, she would agree to a plan and bail at the last minute. She did that a bunch of times. I didn't write her off though. I understood. The need for solitude. Loners know this. But, her degree of solitude worried me, and on the rare occasions that I could get her on the phone, I told her so.
I talked to her on the phone the other night, and she said she had been getting out now and then lately. She likes to play poker, and it sounds like she's getting pretty good at it. She said she wanted to get out more and more...that she wanted to hang with me - like we used to. Our usual routine is to drink lots and lots of beer. I'm not so much into a drinking phase lately, so maybe I'll suggest...coffee...or kicking around a soccer ball...or going for a walk...or whatever.
We'll see whether she comes out or not. Sounds like she will. She said she trusts me, and she appreciates that I understand The Solitude. The best friends I've had have been other loners. With the friends I've had who were super social butterflies, it was awkward when I got injected into that circle of friends. Soon they realized how much of a loner I was, and things kind of unraveled.
Hi, I am not quite sure how I wandered here, but was browsing around. I think you have an interesting blog developing.
ReplyDeletethis is the ultimate catch 22, no? Ah, the pleasure and pain of being an introvert. I know it well.
ReplyDeleteGlad you wandered in, Wrinkling Daily. Yes, we'll see where this goes.
ReplyDeleteOn the scale from introvert to extrovert, I'm pretty far to the introvert side. And it may shift over time, back and forth. In other words I'll never have it perfect. Which is perfect (some clever or poetic or sage figures might say).