It began with a whisper— not spoken,

   but felt

   a ripple against the still waters of what I thought was an unshakable calm.

You existed first as a question,
    tentative,
    unformed.

    Would I say yes? Could I risk the opening?

I sat with the weight of it.
    the thrill
    and
    the fear

    the bitter taste of old wounds still lingering, still waiting for the light to soften them.

And yet, something pulled me forward— an unseen tether,
    a call I couldn’t name
    a call I knew I couldn’t ignore.

The day of our meeting came cloaked in the ordinary: clouds sketched across the sky,
    footsteps all around
    meeting the ground in a rhythm I had forgotten to listen for.

I stood there waiting,
    heart racing,
    ticking like a clock nearing midnight

    and wondered if perhaps this was what hope had always felt like.

Then you appeared.

Not a thunderclap, not a crescendo— but a note so pure that it silenced the noise within me.

You, the answer I didn’t know I sought.

Me, the question you allowed to breathe.

As our paths converged, the world shifted, just slightly.

I thought: the beginning was always meant to feel like this.