A reflective piece on sixteen years of being single, finding deeper meaning in time alone, and healing generational trauma. Sometimes I smile when I hear people say, almost apologetically, that they’ve been single for two years. Or three. Or—heaven forbid—four. As if time without a partner needs to be explained. I smile—not to minimize their longing or to mock the ache of wanting to be held—but because my last relationship ended sixteen years ago. Imagine what people would ma