They couldn’t possibly feel the same way you do… could they? I mean, they’ve said so, and all you can do is take a person at their wor… “Would you like some more water?” “What?” The freight train that is your mind is derailed by a waiter: “Yes, I’m so sorry, yes please, I’ll have some more water, thank you.” The smile you put on to be polite fades as you look down at the single, bare-stemmed, flower protruding from a tall, clear, glass vase in the middle of the table. “A lone flower?… alone…” They’re late. Not the place. Not the waiter. Not the flower. Your date is late. Not late, late, like throw in the towel, call the cavalry, text your best friend that you’ve been stood-the-hell-up, but later than you would ever be without a warning message. You’re in the limbo phase of a new relationship. Where its just fun, nothing is annoying, and no one has any faults- but you’re both still feeling out the situation. Is it serious? Do you think so? Do they think so? Its the point at which a single communication makes or breaks your day. You’re excited. And Nervous. Shit… you really like them. How will this time be different? You’ve got baggage. Past experiences, trauma, things that will pop up and not only scare you, but them too. Can it work? You have the radical notion that the only way it could would be to address those things. Shed light on that darkness. Divulge them to, and explore them with, this new person. “Well, that’s terrifying,” you whisper as your eyes widen. It might be too much for them- no. It won’t be too much if this is the “right” person. They’ll listen. They’ll try not to judge. They’ll hear you and absorb it and fold it into the fabric of the new thing you’re weaving together. They’re not perfect. They’re not meant to be, or ever could be, but they’re the one that will hear you. Really hear you.

You look at your watch and its been one minute and seventeen seconds. You laugh at how quickly brainwaves can function and flow. That this person is now not even ten minutes late and the place you’ve allowed yourself to spiral can be defined as nothing but comical.

And then they walk in the door. Your breath catches and your heart skips a beat. They hurry over to the table and kiss you on the cheek. Upbeat with an audible exhale and a jokingly exhausted face, they say: “I have had a hell of a day and, honestly, the only thing that got me through it was knowing how much you’re about to laugh at it.” You grin. Every anxiety you were having dissolves in those words. They were thinking about you too. In their own way. Caring about you- in their own way. You grab their hand across the table and say: “please tell me every detail.. I promise only to laugh if it’s funny.” That smile only they possess terraforms their face, melting you in the process. “Oh! A daisy…” They point out that single flower in the middle of the table. “You know what daisies signify? New beginnings…” They smile and barely look away. Only to immediately dive into regaling you with a string of nonsensical and comical events that had comprised their day. Through soft, longing, and fulfilled eyes you think; life is comprised of exactly this- moments. Moments of anxieties, joy, heartache, laughter, uncertainty, tidal waves of miraculous and unique thoughts. What an experience it all is.