My greatest mistake was not in cruelty.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP08Rv7OPIK
It was not in closing doors too soon,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ih9Ju6Ett
nor in raising walls too high.
My greatest mistake was in opening the gates too wide,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvUk97Xw6e
watering gardens that were never mine,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSjydlWfqY
offering warmth to hands too cold to hold me back.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNWedxNlUD
I mistook endurance for devotion,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmRKL9np31
and in doing so,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlc8ioOXZCs
I carved myself into a candle that burned bright for others87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNVBYp4N6O
yet left myself in ashes.
I loved with a hunger that asked for nothing,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡah1oQSxfnR
and still they took until I was hollow.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6quK8GN3UI
I became a shoreline,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnZHd45CVA
steady, patient, eternal,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpOaGU3gHE
while they were the tides—87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IkZbPbxk3
arriving only when they pleased,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GfXS4wkVN
leaving me drenched in absence.
Every message I sent87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BgeWPOhO4
was not just a string of words87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThQ4h7VoDS
but a small boat pushed across an ocean,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj86gmM2lSk
carrying patience, tenderness, and hope.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYEvUze2AA
And yet most of those boats87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAbKMUK1E1
returned to me broken,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRlBtGHcmo
or never returned at all.
They were busy, I told myself.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiJa7wNM4R
Busy, tired, distracted.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAQ81jwn76
So I shrank myself into silence,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndyFrvVb2L
waiting like a lantern at the window,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNC09kJH6Tj
believing that love was about staying lit87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIw2eHEeNNY
even when no one comes home.
But there is a loneliness87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2M9hdZ2Ja
in setting tables for guests87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhfX3clPIs
who never arrive.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7UDPcS4Hd
The plates gleam,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdjTPUQLUb
the food grows cold,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxFIhziJHp
and you sit there smiling at empty chairs,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuuw5dZEsK
pretending tomorrow will taste different.
Overloving is a slow kind of death.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxox7qZLi9Q
It is offering your ribs as shelter87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEUsx7og8X
while your own heart shivers in the cold.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0YN1poESP
It is standing in the rain with arms outstretched,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAV2UrsP17c
catching storms that were never meant for you.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnG4c337oKH
It is confusing sacrifice with intimacy,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjt8wrwyJb2
patience with worth,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTY0gCUMkaK
silence with peace.
And I was guilty of it all.
I told myself that if I just poured enough,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdm7fzMliNd
they would finally thirst for me.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVPEF8KUxY
If I shone long enough,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkwjB4PHg0
they would finally see me.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnwyQsqeXa
If I waited long enough,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡET9CxJbxvm
they would finally choose me.
But love is not a lesson you teach87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKNzpkFmws
by bleeding.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQqU2K0lLD
Love is not a classroom where pain becomes homework87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWimJzvq2wD
and silence becomes passing grades.
The truth revealed itself like a mirror cracking:87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3SoXVBQUR
I was not loving them.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQY3ZcudRR
I was abandoning me.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtv95kyGLP8
I was writing them into the center of every story87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0anFKXtjXV
while erasing my own name from the page.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtkEEQLm5q
I was loyal to the idea of them,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqyNDRBAf1
not the reality of me.
And yet even mistakes carry gifts.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGeVIxWkNv
In the rubble of overloving,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDCW1v4FLg
I finally found my reflection.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡES7hj4zJDP
I saw the tiredness etched under my eyes,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QTk6TNZ4D
the ache of waiting written on my chest,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtHzQkhWXH
the hunger for tenderness87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4vVOXDyBx
that I denied myself while feeding others.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EiRDi37Qg
I saw a feast of love I had laid on the table,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwWlL7uxIJ
untouched, unblessed,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OEyjyK9R0
and realized I was starving87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVXVrnFt4y
in a house full of abundance.
Now I carry this lesson not with bitterness87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BDppU6KNK
but with clarity.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOGLDdUu28
I have learned that warmth must be shared,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3dPXEYBUi
not siphoned.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NpvLDz1r7
That presence must be chosen,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡus3lqUpG5b
not begged for.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lhIIV7guf
That love, if it is real,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIItsHdQrQ
is never a one-way river,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN24YBCHKwC
but a tide that returns.
So yes, my greatest mistake was overloving.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2e6KBhGW08
But my quiet victory87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTe2etnPkIr
is that I have stopped.
I am learning to pour into myself87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1rEYHNhKS
the way I once poured into deserts.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyDEZnNYri
I am learning that the right people87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oZNj9OVmJ
will never ask me to shrink87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58ILMSiA3h
to fit their emptiness.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenYhg0JEMI
They will meet me in fullness,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDX0dCUQRWT
as equals, as mirrors, as fire to fire.
And maybe this is how healing begins.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YcOzmxxz0
By forgiving myself for the overgrowth of love,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr62DoNsPpK
by embracing the softness that once betrayed me,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcQYTXk8cT
and by promising87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSFCA2pFuh
with all the weight of a vow87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSepQUjX91
that I will never again confuse87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy28Xxc1CZY
being available with being valued.
and then Add to home screen.