We are staying in Virginia in this cute little suburb. We have been here for three whole days now. Yesterday I saw the next door neighbor mowing her grass, and last evening I saw five kids riding bikes for about half an hour. The rest of the time? It has been like a ghost town. No one is outside. They don't sit on their beautiful front porches in their cozy rocking chairs. I don't know where they are or what they do, but it's awfully lonely around here.
Sometimes in Mexico (and in Nicaragua), I just want a day without someone coming to the door. I realize now that I must enjoy it, one is never alone there. It makes me think about the elderly and the shut-ins here in America. They must get so so lonely. I, at least, can go out for a walk or run to the store. It's not the same, though, as someone coming by to chat or boys coming over to play.
I wonder, do you living-in-America people notice the loneliness? Or do you treasure your house/refuge and the protection it brings you from being bothered by people? I'm really curious about this one!
About Me
- Jan
- Jesus follower since September 1984. Wife since July 1991. Mom since December 1992. Missionary since June 2003.
4 comments:
My personal thoughts is that our lives are too busy to realize we are lonely. I have an incredible beautiful house, that we know was a God mastered blessing in our lives, yet during the school year (and even during the summer if I'm not careful)we found ourselves barely walking in the doors before bedtime and leaving before the sun was up. It is something I fight all the time - but it is the busy lifestyle that America leads that keeps us from realizing what a lonely, me driven, society we have created. Just my thoughts.
We have people coming in and out all the time because of piano and voice lessons, so I don't notice it as much.
But you're right. We hardly see our neighbors. Helen's right, too, we're so incredibly busy. Our neighbor is in a bluegrass band. One night last year, they practiced on their porch, and the wives brought the kids. We sat in lawn chairs out in the circle all evening and the kids played. It was awesome, but few and far between.
I don't love not knowing my neighbors well, but feel like I am imposing on them when I stop by. One of my neighbors has finally given me an open invitation to stop by anytime which I welcome. It's too bad that I feel so busy that I don't stop by much.
So to answer the question..I feel lonely when I'm alone without direction, otherwise, I'm used to it. I'd be open to visitors on a more regular basis though.
Two questions to ask yourself: 1) cultural differences--what else is there to do in Mexico than go visiting? there are many distractions in America. One missionary told me one of the reasons the Gospel exploded in Nepal was that they had nothing to do except sit around at night and talk about God; 2) another thing to consider is the difference in population between the place you are in and Mexico. I remember the last time I was Stateside (I live in Asia, and I was in Virginia as well) I was really struck by how empty it was. Then I remembered that in the same space as the town I was in, my Asian home had something like 10x the population??
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