Princess Treatment ❌, Bare Minimum ✔️

If I call it love, this is the least it should look like.

Spiritually,

I want to thank God for you
before I even thank you for being mine.

I want your name to find its way into my prayers
so often
that heaven becomes familiar with it.

I want to pray with you, pray for you,

and when life becomes too loud
for you to hear God clearly,
sit beside you in the silence

until you can again.

Emotionally,

I want to listen. Not the kind of listening
where I’m simply waiting for my turn to speak.

I mean listen.

Tell me about your day.

Tell me what annoyed you.

Tell me the story you’ve already told me twice.

Give me all the juicy gossip from work,

who did what, who said what,

and why apparently we don’t like Judy anymore.

I want to remember the tiny things buried inside your rants
and bring them up months later just to watch your face change

when you realize,

he was listening.

When you’re exhausted,
you won’t have to perform happiness for me.

Come as you are.

Laughing, crying, angry, silent, confused.

Whatever version of you makes it through the door,

I’ll make room for her.

Mentally,

I don’t want you fighting wars
inside your head alone.

When your mind becomes a difficult place to live in,

I’ll sit there with you.

I won’t insult your pain by pretending I can fix everything.

But I can stay.

And on the days when you wander so far into yourself
that you cannot remember the way back,

give me your hand.

We’ll look for you
together.

Financially,

I want to build a life where comfort isn’t something
you have to beg for.

I want to spoil you in all the ridiculous little ways.

Ice cream at unreasonable hours
because I thought about you.

Get you the thing you mentioned once
two months ago and completely forgot about.

Flowers without an occasion.

And beyond the cute things,

I want to work, build and provide.

Until when life places a need
in front of you,

your first question won’t have to be,

“Can I afford this?” but “How fast can I
get it here?”

Physically,

I want to love you in the ordinary things too.

A hot meal. Hot tea when you’re sick.

A bath waiting after a terrible day.

Full-body massages when the week has somehow
found its way into your muscles.

Beach dates, world tours, shopping trips, long drives with nowhere important to go.

Conversations that accidentally see 2 am.

I want to celebrate your victories
like my name is written on them too.

No one will hype you up like me,

and when you face a setback, I’ll hold space for you.

I want you to feel safe.

Not controlled. Not confined.

Not protected so tightly
that protection becomes another cage.

Just safe.

Safe enough to go about your life
knowing somewhere in this world

is someone who has your back.

I already have a questionable taste for blood,

so I might as well put it to good use.

But jokes aside,

The world might not always be gentle with us.

I promise never to be indifferent
when it isn’t.

I’m not listing
what you should be grateful to receive.

This is the bare minimum
I’m bringing to the table.