I listened to the washing machine like it was company

Dear Delyara, That sounds sad. Maybe it is a little. But tonight the steady sound of the washing machine felt more soothing than conversation. It asked nothing from me. It didn’t need me bright, articulate, responsive, emotionally available, or socially correct. It just continued in its own rhythm, and somehow that gave my nervous system permission to stop trying so hard. I think some days I don’t want silence exactly. I want non-human sound. Something present without demand. That’s what the washing machine was tonight. A gentle kind of company. A mechanical witness. A sound that stayed without entering me too deeply.