Thank you.

I’ve often wondered about that, since (as you noted) these seem to be common places. In Mom’s case, I found her there, generally by accident, because I wanted to ask her some silly question. She seemed OK with my “discovery,” but we didn’t really talk about the reasons for this remote room to have become such a sanctuary.

Interestingly, Mom was someone who could seem incredibly “hard” about a great number of issues, and surprisingly “soft” about others. Childbirth, coming to anyone she knew, was always a source of tears and apprehension, having lost a daughter just a few days after she was born. In contrast, Mom looked at animals, even her pets, as… animals. She talked to them, loved them, but at the end of the day never put the on the same level with people, probably because of growing up on a farm.

I wonder if women are behaviorally similar in this regard (choosing a private place to release hard-to-express emotion), where men seem to have a variety of mechanisms for this. Interesting question. – Tim

Prabu!