Love as a Verb

While we were making dinner together on our first date, I confessed that I was nervous, in part because I knew that your ability to see me so clearly meant that you were capable of devastating me. Later on, we told each other that it was okay if we broke each other's hearts. Have you ever given and received permission to ruin and be ruined? Maybe that's another way of asking if you have ever been in love, if you've ever handed over and been given the codes for mutually assured destruction. You told me that you'd write me a beautiful blog post if the worst happened, and then added that no, you'd write me one before that. I'm writing this because I want to beat you to it. A few days after our first date, lying together in my bed and telling each other truths, I complimented your ability to notice, appreciate, and affirm me. You paused, said you were going to share something vulnerable, and then told me that you had a story that I hadn’t been loved thoroughly, and that you were going to g

saved by

• Shaahana Naufal
• Eli Qian
• Nevedhaa Ayyappan