Where Love Feels Like Home

I no longer flinch when someone reaches for me.

That old instinct,

to brace, and to retreat, has softened into stillness.

Now,

when you hold me,

I don't search for exits.

I lean in.

I don't keep score or scan the horizon for endings wrapped in smiles.

This time, I believe in now.

Love isn't a rescue,

it’s not a storm, a test, or a riddle that I must solve to stay safe.

Love is your hand on my back when the world is loud,

It’s the quiet I never knew I needed.

Love is peace, and choice, and showing up without armor.

I have learned that love does not make you disappear.

Love lets you be louder, braver, and still you, only more whole.

And for the first time, I am not surviving it.

I am living in it.