Be with someone who makes you happy. Be with someone who makes you smile, who makes your life better just for being in it. Be with someone you could take a nap with. Someone who you could go on adventures with. Someone who can make even the most monotonous shit seem fun. Long term, you’re going to be doing a lot of laundry, and going on a lot of trips grocery shopping, so be with someone you can do those things with and not want to hit with a chair.

Be with someone who you trust, who’s on your team and wants you to succeed at everything you try. Be with someone you can make laugh, and who can make you laugh. Be with someone who has your undivided attention, who you want to listen to, who you want to help and support, whose hand you never want to stop holding. Be with someone who listens when you talk, who remembers stupid details about you and your life, who makes you feel good about yourself, who wants to kiss you a lot.

Be with someone you can read in the same room as, who you can be comfortably silent with. Be with someone who understands that needing personal space doesn’t mean you don’t love them. Be with someone you can slob out with and watch films in your pyjamas and eat cold take-out from the night before. Be with someone who wants to do everything and nothing, so long as it’s with you.

Be with someone who wants to romance you. Be with someone who wants to get naked with you. Be with someone who you want to touch, who you want to bring off, and who doesn’t treat it like a chore to reciprocate. Be with someone who makes an effort for you, who you want to make an effort for, in all things.

Be with someone who sees your flaws and accepts them, who you know isn’t perfect themselves, but who you cherish all the more for that, because you’re both only human when all is said and done. Be with someone who treats you with respect and care, no matter how much time passes. Someone who is still going to say “please” and “thank you” even when you’ve been together for fifty years.

Be with someone whose company you enjoy, who you’re attracted to, who treats you well. Be with that person, and be good to them.

Taken from “The Longest Drop” by L. Davidson

Available on Amazon

All proceeds from the sale of this book go to Leeway: Domestic Abuse & Violence Services