I nearly texted my friend, “Can you just tell me I’m doing alright?”

Dear Delyara, I didn’t send it. Not because I didn’t want to. Because I felt embarrassed by how much I wanted it. I’m old enough to pay bills, raise children, hold a job, survive difficult years, and still some nights all I want is one person I trust to say, you are doing better than you think you are. I think there is something very lonely about competent adulthood. You carry so much that people assume you’re beyond needing simple reassurance. But competence does not cancel tenderness. It just hides it better. I didn’t send the message. I made tea instead. But the longing was real.