Ken was always gone.  Cuba, Spain, Greece, the Philippines, Japan, Laos, Okinawa, Vietnam, Korea..often a year at a time.  That was the reason he decided that when he got married that his wife had to be self sufficient.  I am definitely that.  He got what he wanted.  It worked for fifty-seven years.

Most men might be threatened.  Not Ken.  When I was hesitant, he encouraged me.

So now, people ask me all the time how I am doing.  Am I afraid to stay by myself?  I find that question very odd.  I learned to stay by myself when I married him at eighteen.  I am never afraid.  My children make fun of me--the time there was a crash in the backyard at four in the morning and I went to investigate.  I opened the back door and a man was leaning against the glass.

A normal person would probably have screamed.  But I just closed the door and asked the man his name.  "Mike," he said through the glass door.

"Mike, you need to leave.  I'm calling the police."

Come to find out, Mike was drunk and lost.  He had broken into five houses that night trying to find where he was going.

I guess I should have been frightened but I wasn't.  I figure you just take care of problems as they arise and deal with them.  Most of the time everything turns out okay.

Proverbs 3:24  "When you lie down, don't be afraid.  Lie down, and your sleep will be sweet."

That's what I do.  It may not work for everyone, but it works for me.