Since my parents did not equip me with crystals that morph into a magical ice palace, I need to invent a Fortress of Solitude (FofS) for myself. Why? Because I get very little time alone. I teach elementary special education all day and then go home to a spouse who is out of commission for a while. I am surrounded by the Needy. I need a break.
When I go to bed at night, I imagine that I’m in my Happy Place/FofS. Sometimes it’s the Barnes and Noble, where I’m sitting in a comfy chair with my laptop and beautiful classical music is playing on the store’s sound system. I’m completely incognito and not a soul there knows me or needs anything from me. I also have all the time in the world. I don’t have to be anywhere at any specific time. Aaaaaahh-that’s a sweet thought.
Sometimes I imagine that I live in Amish country surrounded by clean-living, hard-working people, their farmland and the smell of freshly mucked out barns. Call me weird but I like the barn smell. I’m sitting in the window of my cottage house with the breeze blowing the curtains, reading a book or working on my cross stitch projects with my cat close to me.
Other times I’m sitting on a large rock next to a rolling brook working on my novel. The water rushing by is trying to lull me to sleep by I fight against it by working that feeling into my story.
Does anyone else wish for a Fortress of Solitude? If so, where is it and what does it include?
