My doctor was more concerned with me living alone for the first time in my life than he was with my excessive drinking. Having my family move hundreds of miles away and leaving me alone in a large house was not, in his eyes, a healthy situation.

Although I explained to her that I had friends, the only ones I could think of mentioning were people who I never met in person. I have a bevy of online friends but my doctor argued that having mostly online friends could be a source of great loneliness. I haven’t had a close friend in over three years and even that friendship had its dysfunction from time to time.

I wish there was a way to be alone without that pesky human need for companionship.