we love what leaves

Because even a moment of beauty is worth the ache

We know it’ll hurt. We know things end. Still, we say yes.

We bring home houseplants, delicate and moody, already knowing they might not survive a month under our care. We water them, talk to them, adjust their sunlight like anxious scientists. And even when they wilt, even when we forget one afternoon and come back to a drooping stem or crisp leaves, we do it again. Not because we love watching them fade, but because the moment they bloom, even for a week, is something soft and beautiful enough to be worth it.

We adopt animals who will age faster than we can process. We know the average dog’s life is barely a chapter in our own, but we still welcome them into every part of us. That’s what loving her was like, My dog. She would jump into my mornings like it was her life’s mission to make me smile. She’d nip at my fingers, throw herself across the room when I came home, and sleep like peace itself had curled up into a warm little shape. I knew one day all of it would end. I loved her more for it.

Even people, we meet someone, we fall into a rhythm, we let them in. And we know. We know there's a chance they’ll leave, or change, or hurt us in some unexpected way. But we still send that text, say that first awkward joke, show up. Because sometimes just one long conversation, or one laugh that shakes the soul, is enough.

Maybe it’s foolish. Maybe it’s brave. But there’s something in us that keeps reaching for things that won’t last, simply because they make us feel alive. We walk in eyes open. And still, we choose to care.