And yet, is it not enough to simply hold someone in your mind, to let missing them be an internal thing, quiet and private?

Not every relationship needs the steady drip of updates, the play-by-play of each passing hour. Some thrive on it. Others suffocate. After time alone, I’ve come to love my independence, to cherish the silence between messages, the space to exist without explanation.

And yet, somewhere beyond my carefully guarded solitude–I know my walls are not unbreakable. With the right person, I’d want to see what dishes they’re cooking and hear the songs they’re playing on repeat. But real love should never feel like surveillance. It should be the kind of knowing that doesn’t require proof. The kind of presence that doesn’... See more

Even when you can’t talk, the expectation is that you voice it. And if you don’t, what does that mean? That you don’t care? That you don’t love them enough? I reject that notion.