Last post — Theory # 1 about what intrigues us about Bigfoot (like us, Bigfoot is looking for a tribe).

This time, Theory # 2 — We all worry we will wind up alone.

I mentioned the major life changes that me and my two cookie-baking friends have dealt with in the 18 months since. The day we baked, we also jointly called an elderly friend whose birthday fell on that day. Let’s call her “Lily.”

Lily, while only slightly out of it that day, had a bit of trouble following the conversation. Within a few months, we learned she had plunged into dementia, and her grown children were struggling to discern whether she was really engaging in a romantic affair with another friend of ours, “Bentley,” who is decades younger than Lily, or if that was all in her imagination.

I happened to later hear one of the messages she left him. Lily had snuck away from her caretakers to call Bentley, to find out why he hadn’t yet come to take her away and never called her back; mid-voicemail, she forgot she was leaving a message and decided HE not only had called HER, and pleaded with him to say something and stop being silent.

This is a woman I’ve known and respected for decades. I attended her husband’s funeral. She is a mother to five children (four still living), and a beloved grandmother. And yet, in her mind, she’s waiting on an (imagined) lover to rescue her from the real family, friends and caretakers that surround her.

Even if we are still surrounded by loved ones as we face our mortal ends, there is still the possibility our minds will wander off alone.

Do either of my theories sound right to you? How do you interpret Bigfoot?

Next post: Another kind of heading out alone.