‘I’m alone, but not lonely: Making the most of single life in my 60s’

Single and over 60? It is quite natural to wish we had met someone sincere, to be a companion and for dreams to come true. Yes, quite normal emotions. Too easy to gaze at others still in love with their soul mates, or meeting a new love.

We can be alone, solo voyagers, but somehow never lonely. Humans are like the whole of humanity, travelling alone in the universe. Quite terrifying, according to science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke. Or is it more terrifying to be not alone? Humanity may have no contacts in space that we can perceive. What if there were other species? But we are not lonely, there are billions of humans, surrounded by a variety of life forms, animals, birds, insects, and sea creatures.

It can, indeed, be scary to be not alone. Unlike many in these millennial days, I was married in the white wedding, in a Catholic Church ceremony. I ended up feeling lonelier than I am now, a single self-sufficient woman in her 60s.

I feel it depends on who one is married to in the first place. Other people can make us feel alone. Maybe some women are queens of the rotten mongrels. To some, life is not fair, so we wind up being resilient and self-motivated. No need to have the grumbles.

As singles over 60, we can all devote our energies to developing strong, positive friendships and to the greater good, especially if we still have ‘get up and go’. We can reach to community groups, as volunteers, or to seek new friends, or work in some way, sharing our life skills.

I must say my ‘get up and go’ seems to disappear most evenings. It is nice to imagine hot dates with some mysterious older male. Would they have a beer belly? I wonder if that would be my ‘fat boy fetish’, to match his ‘fat girl’ fantasies. Just kidding. Instead I focus my time to people with real needs.

I have been single and self-sufficient for so long, I would dissolve into giggles if I did meet some debonair suitor. It can happen to some senior ladies. A friend I know has just met a ‘beautiful man’, now they have a relationship. Ain’t love grand?

Love can come in different shapes and sizes, and can be full of surprises. My friend is not too old, an Autumn affair. Like humanity, alone in the Universe, but never lonely, no human has to be alone. In reality, even in marriage, sooner or later, we all finish up in our own space.

Maybe it is the luck of the draw, if we meet a soul mate, or it may never happen. The world does not revolve around any one of us. This planet is for all of us: alone, but never lonely.

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