Thank You

I begin to divulge my truest self to you. Revealing her inch by inch. Each time, I look to you for a sign of judgement, rejection. An admonishment to stay in line, be normal.

I wait at the ready to sneak furtively back into myself. My spokeswoman is on-deck. I will send her out at a moment’s notice so I can retreat back into safety.

I wait, but the rejection doesn’t come.

Instead, you embrace my truth with open arms, an escaping laugh. You express the things you appreciate about me. The little things that make me unique. The characteristics of my true self, not the person I present to the world.

The pureness of your acceptance shakes me to my core.

I love how much you like lemons. You have such interesting taste.

I love when you said, ‘put ‘er on here!’ And slapped your thighs. I live for these moments with you.

You bring out my silly, my goofy, my weird, my genuine.

You hold my sweaty hands and compliment my thunderous burps. We laugh and play and love together.

We cherish these little moments. So many little moments with you.

Soon I stop checking so often. I stop thinking so hard. One day, I forget to think about how to act around you. I stop acting and started being.

It’s infectious, the being. The act of existing in your truest, most genuine form. It’s more than existing, it’s active and purposeful and yet not orchestrated or measured at all. It feels beautiful because it is the way we are meant to live.

I feel so alive.

Thank you.