I remove my wedding rings and put them in the jewelry box. So many others have done this. I am not the only one. I am not the only one. But here, I am the only one.

I hadn't realized how much I'd been needing to meet someone I might be able to say everything to.

It feels like some part of me that was curled down and waiting in the dark has risen, and now stands stretching and strong in the sunshine. I knew it.

Sometimes you know before you know.

I will come back as a little breeze. You will feel me on your face, and you will know that I am still listening. So you can still talk to me.

But in spite of my great desire for intimacy, I've always been a loner. Perhaps when the longing for connection is as strong as it is in me, when the desire is for something so deep and true, one knows better than to try. One sees that this is not the place for that.

I don't think men try to make women be like them, but I think women try to make men be like them, a lot.