I’m Everyone’s After-Midnight Call and No One’s Saturday Morning Plan

Dear Delyara, That sentence came to me this week and I haven’t been able to forget it. People trust me with the ugly hours. With panic. With shame. With “I didn’t know who else to call.” I have become that woman in so many people’s lives — the emotionally safe place, the one with the right words, the one who can hold a hard truth without flinching. And I’m honored by that. I really am. But sometimes I notice how rarely those same people think to text me first with joy, or invite me somewhere light, or ask me how I’m doing before they need something from me. It’s like I’ve become psychologically available only in the darker rooms. I don’t want to be a crisis hotline with a pulse. I want to be loved in daylight too.