"I was young when I realized I looked at men differently than women. But it took me far longer to realize that the way I looked at them was still different than others. As a teenager, people around me talked about attraction as if it was a physical reaction, something that happened to their body rather than their soul. They would speak of things that felt too old for our age, and as I grew, I started convincing myself I was just a late bloomer, someone who would figure all of that out soon, one day.

Years passed, and no matter what I tried to do, with whoever I tried to be with, nothing felt right. I started feeling lost, broken, too different from everyone to feel like I could even participate in conversations of love. Some of my peers seemed to run out of things to talk to me about, entirely entranced by the notion of being with another. Thankfully, the friends that stayed, and those we made, made me feel like myself. It was only once my closest friend explained that she didn't feel any attraction, be it physical or romantic, that I knew that everything that had been weighing my heart down was possible. Only, I was no stranger to crushes, to butterflies, to simply wanting to make him - whoever he would be - smile.

And then, I met him. The one who made me feel differently. At first, it was a simple crush, but it didn't take long for that to blossom into something I knew I wanted to keep exploring. And the moment that I knew that he was someone I felt unconditionally safe with, was the moment things started feeling a little differently towards the notions I had been so afraid of for almost thirty years.

I don't know what I did in my life, to deserve such gentle patience.

But that's just a part of my story. My friends have taught me that not feeling - that not *loving* as the fairytales have taught us - isn't being broken. The strength of friendship, the steadiness of family, the faith in the stars and the passion for subjects... those are all kinds of love. And for those who do feel the fairytale romance... why would physicality be the only display of that, when you can make your partner tea, read together, listen to them talk about their passions, and find thousands of little ways to make them smile?

And yet, people like me are told we are broken for one embracing that one thread of such a large tapestry. For not seeing it.

... to be fair, I need glasses to see anything at all.

And that's kind of the point, isn't it? We all see love a little differently, don't we? And the way I see it, it's like being home."

- Milo Anani