Dear Lovely People In My Life,

Thank you for reminding me that love doesn’t hurt
or abandon you
or stomp over your beautiful heart with hobnail boots.

For listening with endless patience
even though you are bored of hearing about my relationship drama
and are desperate to tell me to just let him go and move the hell on.

Thank you for recognizing
that I’ve been through enough pain already
and deserve someone who tends and heals.

For reminding me that any man who makes me cry
isn’t worth my tears
and the man who is worthy
wouldn’t make me cry.

Thank you for letting me psychoanalyze the situation
because you know that’s one of my coping strategies when my world feels uncertain
and for the reminder that my attachment style is every bit as deserving of understanding as his.

For telling me that it’s not my role
to be the scapegoat for other people’s behaviour
and that I’m not responsible for their lies or betrayal.
That choice was theirs alone to make.

Thank you for saying
that I’m pretty and sexy
and that any man who doesn’t want me has clearly had a lobotomy or needs a white stick.
I badly needed to laugh this week.

For telling me that his behaviour was completely unacceptable
and I deserve an apology.
Not that I’ll get one.

Thank you for reassuring me of my worth.
For seeing my deeply sensitive and old soul,
reminding me that my uniqueness is a gift not a curse
and that the right man would slay dragons, in not just this but any lifetime, to be with me.

For telling me it wasn’t stupid to be vulnerable
and to share things with him I’ve never shared with anyone else.
It was remarkable and brave
and if he doesn’t treasure that it’s shame on him, not me.

Thank you for holding space for my hurt
that he chose to discard me like yesterday’s chip paper
without reason or closure.

For reminding me that I need to worry about myself more
and him less.
That he made his own bed
and if he’s lonely there alone then that was his choice not mine.

Thank you for the reminder that relationships are fifty fifty.
That it’s not up to me to repair something broken by someone else.
That a man who cared would reach out and make amends
and if he doesn’t then he’s undeserving of my affection.

For telling me not to settle
for anything less than a white Cadillac,
La Traviata and red roses
and for the man who scales my walls even though he’s terrified of heights.

Thank you for the check-ins each day
and for telling me there will always be time and space for me in your world.
Your reassuring presence means more than you will ever know.

For thinking of me
and including me in your prayers
because some days I question whether God knows I exist.

You are beacons of light when my world is dark and I treasure the safety found in the warmth of your care.

Your forever friend,
Me x