Safe Love

Dear Delyara, I never knew love could feel quiet. Not boring. Not empty. Just quiet. Before this relationship, I thought love had to be dramatic to be real. I thought intensity meant devotion. I thought anxiety was chemistry. I confused unpredictability with passion because chaos was familiar to me. Then I met someone who did not make me guess. Someone who calls when he says he will. Someone who notices when I go silent. Someone who does not punish honesty. Someone who does not need me to become smaller in order to stay. It took me a while to trust it. Sometimes I still wait for the storm. Sometimes I still think peace is a trick. But more and more, I am learning that love does not have to hurt to count. That may be the greatest victory of my adult life.