I noticed care in a language I used to resist

Dear Delyara, A parent said something this week that used to irritate me. This time, I heard the care beneath it first. That surprised me. It wasn’t perfect language. It wasn’t the exact emotional fluency I still sometimes wish for. But it was care. Concern trying to arrive through a clumsy form. Effort hidden inside a style I don’t naturally receive well. I think growing older is teaching me that some love becomes visible only after I stop demanding that it sound like the love I had imagined. That’s a tender lesson.