The Upside of Unrequited

perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances. It’s almost unfathomable that it happens as often as it does.

there’s this awfulness that comes when a guy thinks you like him. It’s as if he’s fully clothed and you’re naked in front of him. It’s like your heart suddenly lives outside your body, and whenever he wants, he can reach out and squeeze it.

We talk about the things we like, rather than the things we are.

It’s that feeling of someone knowing you in all the ways you needed to be known.

maybe I should let my heart break, just to prove that my heart can take it.

maybe I should let my heart break, just to prove that my heart can take it.

I don’t entirely understand how anyone gets a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. It just seems like the most impossible odds. You have to have a crush on the exact right person at the exact right moment. And they have to like you back. A perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances. It’s almost unfathomable that it happens as often as it does.

But there’s this thing I feel when I meet another Jewish person in the wild. It’s like a secret invisible high five.

Because there’s nausea and fog, but there’s also this: an unshakable feeling that something wonderful is about to happen. That’s the part I can’t explain. No matter how unlikely, I always have a secret shred of hope. And as feelings go, that’s a pretty addictive one.

But it’s different, being called beautiful. Just beautiful, without conditions.