People who are genuinely kind but have nobody to call in an emergency usually didn’t choose solitude — they often built a life of being counted on, never noticing that being counted on and being cared for had quietly become two different things

Nobody signs up for thisNo one turns twenty-five and decides to build a life where they are structurally alone. Being counted on and being cared for are not the same thingThese two feel similar from the inside, which is what makes the whole thing so sneaky. People say yes far more often than we expectIf you have not asked in a long time, the ask feels enormous. One person, and say one true sentence that does not have a joke attached to it. One who would come at three in the morning, and one who would notice if you went quiet for a fortnight.