A Whole Month? Fantastic!

I was talking to Lucy this morning. Her parents are flying in tonight for Christmas.

Lynne: How long will they stay?

Lucy: About a month. My brother and sister will be here for a week, as well, starting Sunday.

Lynne: Wow - a whole month. That's fantastic! How nice for you!

And then it occurred to me. I would never have this conversation in the states. Were someone to tell me they had family coming for a month, I would lower my voice to a sympathetic register and slowly say, Wow - a whole month. I'm sorry. How will you manage?

I firmly believe that everyone who chooses this lifestyle is by nature an outgoing person. Making friends is easy enough, and we can be quite content with people we've only known for a few hours, days or months. But there's nothing like spending time with someone who's known you for years. It's like eating a healthy diet, but never getting ice-cream. You can live a happy life without ice-cream, but a bit of you is craving it daily.

I speak from experience on the ice-cream, by the way. Half a tub of Dryer's costs $10.

My conversation with Lucy, and with another mom this morning, confirmed to me what I have learned repeatedly in the past. I am an inherently social person. I can be happy in most any situation, if I have people to talk to. Today is no more or less frustrating than the rest of the week, but I feel so much happier because I've had those two conversations this morning.