Feeling Alone

My wife and two daughters left a few days ago to visit my wife's sister. They will be gone for two weeks.

I dropped them off at the airport, then went to work. When I got home, I didn't yet feel lonely--diddn't miss them. You may think this is callous, but consider this: I spend the bulk of almost every day away from them, so I am used to it. Occasionally, I will come home from work and they will be out shopping or at the playground, so an empty house doesn't phase me.

But there was something that night that made me feel very alone. What was it?

Was it eating alone? No big deal.

Was it having no one to talk to? Naw.

Was it my daughter's empty room at bedtime? No.

Was it climbing into a bed by myself, no wife by my side? Nope.

Okay, what was it?

It was my toothbrush, sitting all by itself in the family toothbrush cup. Not very sentimental, I know, but it looked like a symbol of me. I couldn't see myself eating alone, I couldn't see myself sleeping alone, but I could see my toothbrush alone, without the other three that typically sit with it. I looked at it and thought to myself, "That's what you are: a fancy blue toothbrush sitting all alone in a big, empty cup."