It's an interesting one how this affects people differently.
I live on my own, am an only child and am used to being by myself, my close family all having died. My plan, once the wolves die (the youngest at the moment being 9, so maybe another 5-7 years), is to leave my job at the school and, if I want to, work from home. I will get a dog for company and plan to take long walks with him along the footpaths, beaches and cliffs nearby. I'm not one of those who enjoys exercise, so the idea of going for a 4-mile walk alone doesn't appeal... it's fine with wolves though!
So far I'm really, really missing the wolves. It's 2½ months since I last saw them and although driving along a busy M25 to get to them isn't much fun, the change of scenery, the other volunteers and of course the wolves make it greatly worthwhile. I also miss meeting up with one of my friends and taking his dogs for a walk along the coast, or having my friends come round for a games morning (Mario Kart is much more fun when you've a few people in a room playing it).
I can kind of con myself into thinking it's just a weekend without the wolves, but of course I know it isn't. It's the same strategy I used when my dad died; I could imagine he'd just gone away for a week, then another week... I was and am used to being on my own, but it still felt odd. I guess, in a way, it's a kind of very mild bereavement - at least in this case, though, there'll be a semblance of normality eventually.
The other bits... the queues for Tesco, the lack of being able to pop out at 5:30AM on a Saturday to do the shopping when nobody's around, being able to get a haircut, the loss of just being able to take an Easter egg round to a friend as a surprise - it all feels like some sort of weird dream. It's not, of course, it's real life!
There are positives, of course. I'm not one for walks (at least on my own), but being in the garden and watching the wildlife of a lunchtime is relaxing. I'm lucky in that I have no worries about money and I'm also lucky in that I can do my job mostly from home, so I'm gaining over 10 hours a week of time saved from commuting and getting in early to beat traffic.
Originally Posted by: Retron