I still ache for a kind of softness they were never trained to offer

Dear Delyara, I know they cared. I know that is true. But there are forms of care the body rests under more easily than others, and I still feel the absence of those forms sometimes. Emotional fluency. Gentle accuracy. The kind of seeing that reaches the nervous system instead of only the practical life. I understand more now. The ache did not vanish with the understanding. That seems to be the adult version of this grief.