i've spent a lot of my life feeling alone.
not because people weren't around, but because I never really felt seen. I carried parts of myself so quietly that I started believing they weren't meant to be understood.
loneliness teaches you strange things.
it teaches you what silence feels like. it teaches you how much it hurts when someone only knows the version of you that smiles. it teaches you how deeply a person can long to simply be known.
and somewhere along the way, i made myself a promise.
when i meet you, i'll make sure you never have to wonder whether you're seen.
i want to know the stories you've never told anyone. i want to know what makes you laugh until your stomach hurts. i want to know the songs that remind you of childhood, the foods you ask for when you've had a terrible day, and the tiny habits you don't even realize you have.
i want to notice when your smile is genuine, and when it's only there because you're trying to protect everyone else.
i want to be the person who notices.
i want to listen to every thought that wanders through your mind, even the ones you think are too small to matter. i want to laugh with you until we can't breathe. i want to hold you when life feels too heavy. i want to celebrate every version of you, even the ones you struggle to love yourself.
most of all, i hope you'll know me just as deeply.
i hope you'll notice when my voice gets quieter than usual. i hope you'll recognize the days when I'm carrying more than i know how to say. i hope you'll learn the language of my heart the same way i want to learn yours.
i don't want us to love each other from a distance.
i want us to know each other so completely that comfort becomes our first language. i want our hearts to become familiar places. i want to look at you and feel like i've finally arrived home.
i don't want to spend my life searching for someone perfect.
i just want someone who is willing to know me, and willing to be known.
maybe that's what love really is.
not finding someone who never changes.
but finding someone you keep choosing to learn, over and over again.