Postcards from the Hotel #12 — The Solitary Diner | Postales desde el hotel #12 — El comensal solitario
Published on HivePostify by @marysol777 · Fri Aug 28 2026
Postcards from the Hotel #12 ----------------------------
The Solitary Diner
Source [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/man-young-window-table-waiting-5661817/)
Hello dear Holos Lotus community,
There are many kinds of guests in a hotel restaurant.
Some arrive in large families, filling the tables with conversations, laughter and children moving from one chair to another. Others come as couples and spend breakfast talking quietly. And then there are those who arrive alone.
For a long time, I used to think that a person eating alone must be feeling lonely.
Perhaps it was because I associated having company with being happy. When I saw someone sitting at a table for one, I sometimes wondered if they were waiting for someone who had not arrived yet.
But working in hospitality has taught me to look more carefully.
I remember one guest who used to come to breakfast alone every morning. He always chose a table near the window. He would order his coffee, serve himself slowly and then sit down with a book.
He never seemed in a hurry.
Sometimes he would look through the window for several minutes before turning another page. Other times he simply watched the people passing through the restaurant.
There was something peaceful about him.
One morning, I realized that I had been looking at his situation from the wrong perspective.
He was not waiting for someone.
He was enjoying being there.
That made me think about the difference between being alone and feeling alone.
They are not always the same thing.
There is a kind of loneliness that hurts. The one that comes when we wish someone were beside us and there is nobody there. The silence in that case can feel very heavy.
But there is another kind of solitude that we choose.
The kind that allows us to drink a coffee without having to talk.
To read a few pages without interruption.
To walk somewhere at our own pace.
To sit quietly and simply listen to our own thoughts.
At 50 years old, I have learned to appreciate moments of silence much more than I did when I was younger.
Perhaps that is because working in a hotel means being surrounded by people almost constantly. There are voices, plates, cups, questions, greetings and movement from the beginning of the day.
So when I have a quiet moment, I no longer feel that I need to fill it.
I have also learned that being surrounded by people does not necessarily mean that we feel accompanied.
There are people who live in crowded homes and still feel deeply alone.
And there are people who can spend an entire morning by themselves and feel completely at peace.
We should not assume that someone needs to be rescued simply because they are alone.
Sometimes they are exactly where they want to be.
Perhaps that is one of the gifts of maturity: learning not to judge every silence as sadness.
The guest by the window eventually became a familiar part of my mornings. I never asked him why he traveled alone, whether he had family waiting for him somewhere else, or what brought him to Cuba.
I simply learned his routine.
I knew where he liked to sit.
I knew that he enjoyed his coffee slowly.
And I understood that his silence did not need an explanation.
Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for another person is not to interrupt their solitude.
Just offer a warm greeting, serve the coffee with a smile and allow them to enjoy their own company.
Because perhaps being alone does not always mean that someone is missing.
Sometimes it means that, for a little while, we have the opportunity to find ourselves again.
Thank you for reading.
Translation into English made with DeepL Translate.
🇪🇸 En Español ---------------
Postales desde el hotel #12 ---------------------------
El comensal solitario
Fuente [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/man-young-window-table-waiting-5661817/)
Hola querida comunidad de Holos lotus,
En el restaurante de un hotel hay muchos tipos de huéspedes.
Tags: #hive-131951#ecency#spanish#hivecuba#sublimesunday#enlace#bbh#poofofbrain#indiaunited#alive