SOLITUDE

I May End Up a Shut-In Writer Someday

If I’m Alone in 20 Years, This Could Become My Reality

I’m not generally a negative person regarding most things. Though I am curious by nature and realistic about the unknown prospects of the future. I’ve noticed some changes in the past few months since we moved to our new home across town.

It’s really quiet here.

Writer-Me loves that about where we live now. Before this place, we’d been living in a townhome/apartment community for the past four years. It was situated on the corner of two of the busiest streets near our local mall and other shopping areas.

I heard traffic constantly. There was far more noise in that type of community with so many men, women, and children living in close proximity. It wasn’t nearly as quiet as living in this subdivision we now call home, set back from any main roads.

My Bride and my sister-in-law who lives with us both work typical Monday through Friday schedules. They’re usually off to work before I wake up. Two of my college-aged children live downstairs, rarely coming upstairs for any reason. The kitchen and their bathroom are downstairs, after all.

Our new place came with effective window coverings in our master bedroom, the place I write. Not just mini blinds or something similar, but very substantial drop-down, darker coverings that make my writer’s domain nice and dark. I prefer it that way.

With the quiet and privacy I enjoy, I started picturing what the future might look like 20 years or so from now. I have my concerns that I could easily become a shut-in. A man and his laptop, alone with his thoughts, and his dog. Perhaps a cat, too.

This is especially more likely to happen if god forbid, I outlive my Bride. While I have no reason to believe anything will happen to her, obviously it’s a possibility. Most of the rare days I leave our home are to tag along with her on an outing to the grocery store, or the occasional date night.

If I found myself widowed at some point, I’d likely become a hermit writer who would rarely leave his home. If we ended up living on the Oregon Coast as we’re planning to do in three to four years, it would be challenging for me to go outside. Especially if I had a yard for a dog.

I assume that Libby would have passed by then. I hate the idea of both her and my Bride being gone, but again, I’m a realistic person. I know that there’s a possibility of me outliving both of them. I try not to think about that too often, but as a writer, ideas always pop into my head.

If I did live on the coast, perhaps a better idea would be for me to have a small place or even a room above a downtown business near the beach. It would encourage me to walk my future dog daily. Perhaps I’d make a few friends in town or meet some interesting tourists who I could write about.

It would be cool to be the local elderly writer with Doc Brown hair and Libby the Second in tow. Perhaps they’d let an old man and his companion eat together at some of the local restaurants near the beach. I could get the senior discount, and Mooch 2.0 would do her Mooch things.

My photography hobby could be another factor that may save me from a life as a hermit. Getting out in nature and photographing the beauty of the world we live in would be wonderful. Perhaps it would keep me feeling younger, taking short hikes around the coast. M2 would probably appreciate it, as well.

I wouldn’t feel the need to date or try to find someone else at that stage of life. When you’ve been happily married for a certain amount of time, it’s unlikely anyone else would bring you as much happiness as the beautiful person who you lost. It would be unfair to attempt a new relationship with someone else, as I’d always be comparing them to Mai, at least in my head.

So a small little place for me and a pet where I can spend most of my time writing alone would be the most likely living scenario I envision for myself. I can’t imagine living with one of my children. Not because we don’t get along, but because I wouldn’t want to be a burden to them.

So far, they enjoy our company as young adults, enough to live with us during college. Or maybe it’s the good cooking, laundry service, and free rent. I’m sure probably both. At some point though, they’ll all be done with school and starting their careers. Perhaps they’ll be dating or married to someone.

The idea of a shut-in lifestyle isn’t a bad one to me. I feel it would be a hybrid of focusing on my writing, photography, and being happy as a pet-Grandpa. Living where I want to and maintaining some form of independence while holing up in my small home sounds appealing.

If you find yourself on the Oregon Coast in the 2040s or 50s, ask around about a wild-haired old man. The one with his sidekick of a small dog. I hear he writes cranky, though humorous articles about the world and how it’s gone to Hell in a hand basket.

And stay off his lawn. If his Bride is no longer there to keep him honest, he might send Mooch II after you. And attempt to photograph the entire thing. &:^)

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