"Sometimes I lie awake wondering if I'm the common thread in every loss. If people drift because I wasn't enough to stay for." And then someone looked at me with a kind of softness I didn't know what to do with and said, "Maybe their leaving wasn't a verdict on your worth. Maybe it was just proof they weren't capable of loving you the way your heart deserved. Their absence isn't evidence you're unlovable. It's evidence they couldn't meet you where you've always met others." And something inside me. split open. Because I've spent years treating every goodbye like a scar I caused. Like I was the problem. Like I was the one who handed them the door. But the parts of me that still ache to be chosen-the parts that brace for the worst because they've learned to- they're not damaged. They're exhausted. Exhausted from giving people chances they never knew how to hold. And maybe. just maybe. those pieces are finally ready to be met by someone who won't run. Someone who stays. Someone who sees the softness. and doesn't treat it like a burden. Someone who cares.