Why I continue to put up with you

The other night you asked why I continue to put up with you? That has been a question I have asked myself a lot in the past several months as well. Usually not understanding why myself.

Needless to say, I have been noodling on it for a bit. Poof! This morning in the shower, answers start flowing as the water fell from the shower head.

It all stems from knowing how much you truly understand me and vice versa. I have never met anyone who understands me - knows me - the intrinsic, deep down me.

In my 32 years of life, I have never come across anyone who understood and I never had to explain or reason. Sure, some people understand certain facets of me. But soup to nuts, the only person to have that breath of understanding is you. And it is wonderful to finally have a person in my life who gets me like that regardless of our relational plane of being.

There aren't many of us - you and me - out here in this big, beautiful world. So filled with drive, ambition, willingness to get things done; to be brimming with goals and dreams and making those brilliant flits of light and hope into something tangible. But under all that - the persona in good clothes, perfectly coiffed - lies sensitive, caring individuals who keep their vulnerability tucked safely under the surface. There is a level of trust we share because we both feel safe enough to share our vulnerabilities with each other - we understand its sacredness.

To know at my core that you understand the road I travel, the challenges that surface, the tenderness that lies under the armor is why I continue to put up with you.

To not have to say anything but yet I know what you need is why I continue to put up with you.

It is that special friendship we share - kindred spirits - that is why I continue to put up with you.