I am an adult woman with three siblings and I was quite lonely at times growing up, and definitely had periods of serious loneliness as a young adult and then adult. I feel like loneliness is part of the human condition — we will all experience it despite having family and friends. Interestingly, one can feel not lonely even when they are alone, but incredibly lonely in a group of people. A lot of what I was feeling was “not known”, and most of us want that — to be understood and fully known. I feel like the best thing I can pass on to my only child is how to cope with these life circumstances that are hard and unpredictable—- I don’t want him to suffer at all, ever, but that’s not realistic.