When your favorite ex says things like “Well, you never were an average woman, Cary.” during a surprise phone call during which he discusses how he is trying to help your son who really needs the help.
And yet you still have to bite your tongue to avoid an argument over his misogynistic statement that prompted the above quote. Then you hang up and sob.
No, YOU do.
I think you love someone when you’d rather offer up your own skin than watch the world take a knife to theirs; when the sight of their blood is enough of a blade to cut you pain of your own. I think you love someone when you’d do anything to take the rubble in their chest and shake it into an earthquake that splits across their lips. I think it’s about feeling like something is being sucked out of you with every tear they spill. A lot of people talk about love as always being there for someone; maybe define it by being that person who is up at four a.m. to silence their heartbeat when it shudders into screams. But the thing about love, I think, is that it’s more than just being able to stay awake- it’s about being able to stay away, To take that unbearable step back when you know your shadow is blocking their light. You can fall for someone and they might not even hear you crash. But I think love is about falling anyway- no matter where you land.
