Went out and had lunch by myself recently. Servers at the restaurant asked, “For how many, ma'am?” I replied with, “Just one.” They gave me a puzzled look that held the wonder of why. Or pity. Perhaps. I don’t know. What I do know is this: though there may be some loneliness and longing, there is also some peace in eating alone. You tend to think about a lot of things when you’re by yourself, stripped off of any distractions. How long until the food gets here? What do I have to do today? How’s my heart? The things you’ve put off for so long come out to the surface and confront you to be acknowledged. Once you do, you realize that being alone isn’t a bad thing. Being comfortable with being by yourself is accepting the fact that there are and will be times in life when you will be sitting in front of an empty chair at a table set for one.