Hearing voices

For nearly four years, our daughter has been my partner in crime. She's gone everywhere with me, an eager participant in the mundane errands of our family life. Now she's in school half days and I'm on my own. And I find myself talking out loud (as if to her, I imagine) in Target, the grocery store, etc. "Do we need cereal?" "What should we make for dinner?" "Where's the potty?" No one answers and I'm left with sympathetic stares. Just waiting for the men in white coats with butterfly nets to whisk me away.