I hope that in another world, we’ve carved out a little life together.
I hope that you come home from work and find me in the kitchen, and you’re hungry for me. For my laughter and the way I’d hug you if we didn’t have to have all this space between us.
I hope that you’d smile at me every night, the same way you do when you see me now. But that I can breathe in the smell of you, laundry soap, cut grass, and rain, drawing it all the way into my lungs, letting it choke me, and not ever feeling guilty that I love the way your skin smells.
I hope that in that universe you allow me the privilege of measuring out your medicine when you’re sick, no grumbling, no complaining.
I hope that you rest your head in my lap and let me play with your hair and we aren’t afraid, because if I touch you now we’re just a powder keg waiting to explode so I can’t.
I hope that we stay up late taking apart the universe and putting it back together. That when there’s a chill in the air, I don’t have to hesitate before moving closer to you for warmth. That in that universe, you actually do buy the bottle of wine because it’s sweet and you know I’d like it and we stay up until 3 in the morning sharing it, and we can use glasses because I’m not desperately chasing the taste of you on the rim.
I hope that in that universe we love each other well instead of stealing grins across a crowded room or leaving the air thick with all the things we cannot say and all the distance we cannot cross.
I hope that I smile at you when you catch me looking at you instead of quickly looking away.
I hope that in a different universe, you don’t stop yourself when you go to hug me. That your love for me flows as openly as I feel like mine does for you, embarrassingly.
I hope that in that universe, I’m brave enough to tell you that I love your smile and the way you already have laugh lines, and that you’re the most beautiful person I know.
I hope that you call me honey without chasing it away with a chuckle.
In that universe, I hope the solidity of your love is a weighted blanket and not an animal that thrashes around inside of me, desperate to claw its way out.
I hope in that universe, I wouldn’t have to kill it if it did claw itself free.