Thanks, O.E. I'm kind of surprised. I thought I would hate being alone. For 3 months, after my bf died, I did feel horribly alone. Then the grief eased. I learned that the awful pain of fresh grief is temporary. Now I'm able to enjoy my memories. I always did have a lot of interests. For years, caregiving pushed everything else aside.

I'm grateful for people who want to keep in touch with me. But they do tend to put me back in the role of caregiving. I guess it's true that "you teach people how to treat you." Not that I want to be alone all the time. I just want to avoid people looking to me to fill up some emptiness in their lives. I see now why they are so bored. They haven't cultivated interests. They never got into longterm relationships, as I did. When I was in fresh grief, they didn't encourage me to talk about it. They were just glad that now I was available to them. They didn't show much empathy for my sorrow, but now they prey on my sympathy.