Hello beautiful people,
Let’s talk long-term relationships.
Romantic, familial, chosen—so many places to experience love.
The best ones?
They’re built on presence.
On the willingness to stay when things feel tender, complicated, or heavy.
I had just had a complete breakdown about my dad, who has been in hospice, and some things that had unfolded that day. It was not my favorite few hours. Grace was with me, and her love was everything in that moment.
When Merlin got home and saw my marshmallow-puffed eyes, he looked at me and said,
“You know you need to tell me what you need.”
Because even after decades together, mind reading is not part of the deal.
I know he loves me.
And I also know I am a complicated, ever-changing, growing being—and sometimes I don’t even know what I need myself. So how could he?
This is a sacred and heartbreaking time.
One that doesn’t need solutions—only space.
I was talked out.
Emotionally spent.
What I needed was simple.
A back scratch.
(Seriously—the world might change if we all understood the power of a really good back scratch.)
Lying in bed together, my head on his chest, wrapped in him, watching a TV show.
These are the moments I write about in More than Millions.
Not the highlight reel—but the real life underneath it.
Nothing fixed. Everything held.
My new mantra.
love,
mmc
