Solitude. Even when you’re not alone you can feel a sense of solitude, as I’m beginning to discover as I get older. I always find this picture of my mother, sitting at the Chicago Botanic Garden, rather poignant. Although she lived with us and was very rarely on her own, I knew that she felt lonely. Most of her contemporaries had already died and she was far away from a place that she had known as home for almost seventy years. When she passed away a few years ago, she left me with my own kind of solitude, taking with her shared memories of people, places and events that no one else but me remembers.
Sometimes, even when you’re standing right next to a crowd of people, you can feel like you’re the only person on earth.
Arches Nation Park in Utah.
The Badlands in South Dakota.
For more on The Weekly Photo Challenge at The Daily Post go to https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/solitude/
The Nature of Things 
Beautiful photos Sue, especially that one of your mom 🙂
Thanks, Deb! Even now, I can’t help wondering if I could have done more to help her feel less isolated. As much as she loved her family (the reason she & Dad came to live in the US) I think she really missed home.
What a beautiful and thoughtful post.
Thank you, Laura!
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Lovely post, and the one of your mum was especially evocative.
Thank you, Margaret! Mom loved visiting the Garden with me but she knew I wanted to roam around and take pictures so she would get comfortable in one of her favorite seats and tell me to just wander off and take my time.
Your pictures really captured the word solitude. I’ve been enjoying your posts and I nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award, https://amurderofcrowsblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/mystery-blogger/.
Thank you so much. I appreciate your kind thought.