One is the loneliest number...

That old Three Dog Night song has a lot of truth in it. One is indeed the loneliest that you have ever knew.
I am by nature a loner. My father was that way. Even though he had four sons and a wife he was never really happy being around people. He was an intelligent man, could crack a good a joke and was a wiz in the kitchen making up party snacks. But my Dad hated being around people. We usually saw each other in passing during my teenage days. Dad was off to work usually between 6 and 7 AM, came home around 6 PM and watched a little TV before he turned in at 8. I know my Mom struggled with his actions, being "available" for an hour or so each night was not enough for her or her four sons. And soon you could see it in our lives that we all took on the character of our Father, we all did our own thing and very rarely did something together.
My Father and Mother divorced after I had left the house, I am not really sure what happened in the last couple of years of their marriage but I am sure not much changed. I really thought my Father would never remarry, being alone suited him. But apparently the loneliest number is truely one. He remarried within two years of his divorce and was the same with his second wife as he was with his first. Always aloof, seperated, never really engaged.

I learned a lot from my Father. First I learned that even though I sometimes like to be by myself, I am not happy when I am alone. I can be in a room full of people and still feel alone, but that is not reality. The reality is although I may feel alone I can never be alone in a room full of people unless I decide to be alone.

I also learned that you can be all alone in a house full of kids and a wife, if you want to be. You have to decide to be alone with all those people around you, but if you decide to be alone, you can be. I have decided to not be a recluse in my own home, to have an effect on my kids, and be a husband to my wife, not just a provider.

Yes one is the loneliest number, if you allow it to be.