1. at eighteen i wanted love so badly my footsteps left behind a paper trail with my heart’s resume and headshot
2. my cover letter asked for passion
3. that’s exactly what i got
4. in a world where the love of a man is something to win, to chase, to catch to covet to climb to the peak without a single guarantee he will be at the top
5. this love was Everest
6. he got winded easily
7. if our hearts get tattoos every time we fall in love, then my ink reads ‘stayed too long.’
8. turns out a lot of us have matching tattoos
9. turns out a lot of us have mistaken poison for love and decided we liked the aftertaste
10. i cooked that stuff into breakfast lunch and dinner, into our morning coffee and every tequila shot we took to try again
12. the recipe was simple
13. indecisiveness
14. it would be unfair to tell you that you shouldn’t stay
15. love does not work like that
16. when love is born your hope and your truth are delivered in two separate envelopes
17. guess which one i opened first?
18. it took three years to open the second one
19. we all have reasons to stay and mine was made from a child who was told love was not unconditional
20. when the perception of truth and your truth meets, the latter carries a new envelope
21. inside it is freedom
22. it is your choice when to open it. 
23. at 23 i wanted love so badly my footsteps left a paper trail of love applications
24. the pre-req was stability
25. she ran cross country in high school
26. she never gets winded