Thoughts about living alone & not living alone

The couple I rent from will be returning home this weekend. They will be here for a few days and then off for a week and then we spend a couple weeks together before I leave for a house sitting gig that will run well into January. They will leave in early January to go on a speaking tour so I will not spend much time with them. In some ways I am sad that I will see them or spend too much time with them. I think in some ways we are kindred spirits and very much alike despite how different we are from each other.

I have mixed feelings about living with the couple I rent from. I enjoy talking with them and like aspects of their company. I am also an introvert in the sense that being alone helps me think & recharge or regain energy. I need time to myself so living alone in their town home while they are out of the country most of the year is great for me. I have plenty of time to myself as I do not have friends over often or bring home girlfriends or guests. I am a man also which means alone time is cave time. Cave time is when men withdraw to enjoy solitude! (The next time any of you women in relationships wonder why your man wonders off to work in his garage, work on his car, work in the basement, or watch sports at home...he is just enjoying cave time)

While all the solitude & time to myself has benefits it also has draw backs & downfalls. I do not spend much time engaging in social activities with others and it is easy to let the social skills slip or get use to being the silent observer in conversations (While listening to people is great it also gives people the impression I do not have much to say or am not interested in them or the conversation which is not true & not the impression I want to leave with people). I am glad the Persons are back as it pulls me out of my cave time and pushes me to interact with others in the small and minute details of every day life.