I built myself a life.

[katernater]

Ever since the X-Files episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space," I have had a soft spot in my heart for Charles Nelson Reilly. I was too young to really know him from his days on Match Game, or to have seen his appearances on The Tonight Show (which he did something like 106 times), but his role as the sardonic non-fiction science fiction novelist

Comments

[another_myself]

You've done so well and come so far. I consider myself lucky every day that I know you.

[msconduct]

Yes. That's beautiful. (And I'm sorry you went through such a tough time in your teens.) It reminded me of an experience I had: I went through a very, very major and serious marriage breakdown that took me three years to recover from. About a year into this, my mother and best friend took me away for a summer holiday at the beach on the gorgeous island of Waiheke, which is half an hour's ferry ride from Auckland. They went out to get takeaways (or takeout as they call it in your part of the world), and in spite of the beautiful location and the waves crashing on a stunning beach just feet from the balcony, I felt the thing I had felt ever since my separation, every moment I allowed myself to pay attention to it: an utterly crushing sense of isolation. I felt like the most alone person in the world