Where the Heart Lingers.

There are places the heart refuses to forget.

Not because they were perfect.

Not because they were always kind.

But because, for a moment , a flicker of time  they felt like home.

You can know, logically, that someone didn’t love you the way you deserved.

You can replay the moments, see the cracks you once overlooked, notice the silences that screamed louder than words.

You can know they weren’t your forever.

You can know they left you carrying pieces they should have held more gently.

And still…

your heart lingers.

Because the heart doesn’t just remember facts.

It remembers the feeling of being seen.

It remembers how their laughter softened a hard day.

It remembers the way their name, once, made your soul exhale.

It remembers the hope you built around them , not because they were perfect, but because you wanted so badly for them to be.

That’s the thing about human beings.

We don’t always stay because love was real.

Sometimes we linger because we were real.

Because we gave from a place that was pure and open and unafraid.

And it hurts.

It hurts to realize that what you felt so deeply wasn’t always returned.

It hurts to know you built castles in sand.

It hurts to unlove someone who still lives in the corners of your memories.

But hear this: the staying power of your heart is not a weakness.

It’s not foolishness.

It’s proof of your capacity to feel.

Proof that you are the kind of person who doesn’t love halfway.

Proof that you saw goodness, even in broken places.

And that is a gift , not everyone can say the same.

You are not weak for remembering.

You are not broken for missing.

You are not foolish for once believing.

You are a heart that dared to love in a world that often doesn’t know how.

And one day, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow 

your heart will find a place where it doesn’t have to linger in memories,

because the love will be real,

and safe,

and present.

Until then, be gentle with yourself.

Healing isn’t about forgetting.

It’s about learning to honor the parts of you that stayed true, even when others didn’t.

“Maybe the point was never about who stayed or who left.

Maybe the point was that you loved honestly and nothing honest is ever wasted.”