By The Way, You Saved Me
I owe you the person that I am now - one who still tries, who chooses hope and softness over rage and bitterness, however clumsy, to make life softer for others.
My room was dim, and my life felt too quiet, too boring, to matter. My years had folded then to a stubborn pile of blurry memories; dust had settled on a lot of things. But if you ever wondered if I had forgotten you, then no, I never did.
Sure, it had become hazy. Too hard to remember every inch, every curve, every detail there had been. But I remember the vague lines, the stubborn shape, the scattered soft light against the backdrop of my miserable life. I remember the muffled hum more than the words; I remember the warmth, how it felt easier to breathe for once.
You were a mere flicker of light when I first met you. Small and unassuming, yet bright enough not to go unnoticed. Even amidst the storms, you never wavered. Instead, you burned brighter - so much that you illuminated corners of my life that even I forgot existed. You had extended your light to me, and I have never once forgotten about it. The things you showed and taught me, perhaps without even meaning to, stayed and engraved themselves deep within me.
Hope and gentleness, stitched from the smallest, brightest threads, hidden within laughter, within gazes; I owe you all of that. If not for that small light, I wouldn't have been here. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be 'me'.
I learned to choose kindness over the sharpness inside me. I owe you the person that I am now - the one who still tries, who chooses hope and softness over rage and bitterness, however clumsy, to make life softer for others.
So, thank you. Thank you for existing, for being the place I can return to when the world presses too hard. I still keep your warmth in my hands, hope in my heart, and kindness in my eyes. And I will try - every day - to pass it on to whoever needs it next, because someone once gave that to me, and kept me alive.
And if, in case, you one day doubt yourself, your existence, your place in the world, remember me. Because by the way, you saved me.