The Moments That Carry Us
By Jasmin Hu
It’s the quiet moments that I enjoy. The moment when we are sitting on opposite ends of the couch with our laptops, yet still maintaining contact with our feet. When we are stopped at a red light, or waiting in line, and instinctively turn to each other for a kiss. The moment just before falling asleep, when our arms and legs are tangled together, and I can feel your breath slowly start to deepen. You always fall asleep so fast, as if you can’t wait to unload the weight of the day.
I treasure the times when we are loud. When you make me laugh without trying, and you look at me with love and bewilderment as I do so uncontrollably for minutes on end. When we get caught up in the music playing from the car, and attempt to one-up another with ridiculous song belting and dance moves. When we confess our deepest secrets and declare our biggest dreams, and revel in the new parts of ourselves discovered within each other’s company. You have such enormous goals and avid plans for the future, and nothing fills my heart more than when you say I am an integral part of them.
I accept that we inevitably share unpleasant moments. When circumstances beyond our control anger us, sadden us, temporarily numb us. When we disagree fervently, and aren’t afraid to push and challenge each other. Even when those disagreements turn into fights, and the deafening silence afterward hangs drearily between us, I don’t mind. That’s how we’re reminded that we are constantly learning and growing together, how we continue to choose each other in love. We are quite different, you and I, and yet not that different at all, as we will always have this common path we’re walking on, alongside one another.
On this ordinary night, as we are once again enjoying a quiet moment at the end of an eventful day, I find myself completely at peace. I look forward to the infinitely more serene, loud, passionate moments we’ll have in the time to come, but I try not to let myself get carried away in daydreams. For now, these moments, these small periods in time, are what make me realize just how enchanting life is, and how special we are.