The Light We Lost

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence

“Congratulations—to my talented, brilliant boyfriend.”

“I’m the lucky one. I wish I could do more to show you how incredible it is to be here, right now, with you.”

“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson

Was I infatuated with you? Were we infatuated with each other? Can infatuation last this long?

There are people we come across during our lives who, after they drift out of our worlds, drift out for good. Even if we see them again, it’s a quick, meaningless hi and how are you? There are other people, though, with whom things pick up right where the relationship left off, whenever we run into them. The level of comfort

“We’re orbiting around each other.”

With me,” you said, and you ran your fingers absently along my braid. It was an intimate gesture, the kind of thing that happens after all barriers of personal space have been breached. Like eating off someone else’s plate without asking.

There are certain questions that change the world. Not the big-picture world, but the small, personal world. Will you marry me, I think, tops that list

There are people we come across during our lives who, after they drift out of our worlds, drift out for good. Even if we see them again, it’s a quick, meaningless hi and how are you? There are other people, though, with whom things pick up right where the relationship left off, whenever we run into them. The level of comfort—it feels like no time has passed