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"God knows they're all dear to me
But if the truth be told
I like it when they come
And I love it when they go."

Nah, i'm waaaaay past the stage of inviting family...
At best 5 or so I can be bothered with

We had four get togethers here over Christmas. Nineteen people, 17 people, 9 people, and 6 people. I really enjoyed being host, cooked like crazy and ran around making sure everyone was happy. I enjoyed it because I was too busy to sit around and chat, plus by the end of the evening the bottle of cooking vodka was empty. ;) We went out to one party and I was miserable, nothing to do but pretend I was having a good time.

I find that a couple of tramadols helps to mellow me out for xmas crap.
or good codeine based cough syrope, like half a bottle.

I have plenty of friends and due to my current lifestyle and work environment am never without opportunity to interact with the public. The beach is a couple blocks away and there's no shortage of humans there on any given day, should I require such interaction.

But I must confess....I truly enjoy the peacefulness that comes with living with only my 2 dogs and 2 cats.

Especially now that I'm in my mid sixties, I realize how important it is for me to enjoy the freedom that comes with this existence.

There's never a shortage of projects here at home. My gardening activities alone fill my heart with the type of joy that cannot be equaled by any human interaction. And trust me...I am speaking from experience!

But every person is different and every day brings change - so to those who do feel lonely at times, I say go for a walk or bike ride - get some fresh air - there's a lot going on and much to see and appreciate, if you look in the right direction.

I'm an only child, a closet introvert, and I work alone from home. My wife needs the interaction of going to a place of work - me, less so. I enjoy going out to dinner with other people, hosting people at the winery, business meetings, etc. I can be incredibly social, but I also seek my alone time to recharge. It's all about balance for me.

To your point Cliff, when I travel - which has been extensive at times - I really enjoy the solitude. The hours on the airplane without saying a word. A quiet night on my own at the bar of a restaurant and in my room. No issues. I rarely spoke with my wife as we operated on a "no news is good news" policy. Time zones were inconvenient, I was usually interrupting something. She was busy with the kids (or now dogs) and her goals in life - I was busy with mine. When we'd get back together, then we catch one another up and enjoy our time together in person.

As an observation, I know a couple that when one of them travels, they easily spend an hour on the phone with the other each day. They do not have children, so they are indeed one another's world. I have to be honest, I'm not sure what I'd talk about with my wife for an hour unless we have a specific thing to figure out. Much less every day. But we are really happy as a couple, and now with the kids out of the nest, we enjoy our time together and our time apart.

I have no concerns about being lonely in life. That being said, my two closest male friends are very far away and I see them too seldom. It would be good to have a couple of playmates every now and then, so one day I should try to fix that. For men, hobbies tend to be the other social lubricant. So happens my hobby is a winery, which provides plenty of lubrication.

When I first moved to Oklahoma City, a bit over 40 years ago, 100% of my co-workers were married. Most were a little or a lot older than I was. None of them knew me at all, except as the FNG. It takes a while to learn the layout of the town, and start to make acquaintances, and some then tun into friendships.

I can't not fathom going back to being single again.

I am NOT a people person, but at work I am like Stijn above. I can easily work with people, but I like my time at home with just the wife and kids.

I hate air travel, there are people on those airplanes. Most people aren't bad, but I would rather avoid them just the same.

I have made a few friends on here, but I can walk away from the computer and you lot are quiet! :)

I'm actually the lively one at work, I'm the one cracking jokes, taking lead on calls or tough situations, initiative when somebody new joins or leaves. I'm well known to go out of my way to thank others, take ownership and give credit where due.

Also known for being very direct and unfiltered in my communication even (some say especially)in the face of managers several levels above me because I just can't be arsed to put up with BS business procedures that doesn't work right..

I tend to just re-write em in the spot and send em to the offending manager/proc owner with a message that says
"I Applied KISS principle, much better now"

I do hate working at home because I like the interaction even if it's unhinged at times :D

I am the only one here of 400 people that got called out specifically for my communication.

Our CEO likes direct and to the point type communications. She said I was a little too direct. Not a bad way, but I did need to use more words. Later I gave a nice little informative speech at a directors retreat and everyone was taken aback that I know all these fancy, non-IT words. I asked if they ever saw Quigley Down Under. I said "Never said I didn't know how to use them, just didn't have much use for 'em".

At work, I am the sole prototype engineer for new automotive parts. I have my own lab that is 50'x80', and I am the only one back there that has access to all the machinery (lathe, mill, band saw, blast cabinet, drill press, and sanders) I keep a radio playing, but never wish for more human contact, and usually end up rolling my eyes when someone does enter as if to say, "here we go again".

We'd work great together...in different buildings all alone :).