The Person Who Keeps You Almost Chosen

Some relationships survive for years in the grammar of nearly.

Nearly official. Nearly ready. Nearly exclusive. Nearly able to make plans more than three days ahead.

Nothing is technically false. There is always a reason the next step has not happened yet.

This is what makes almost so durable.

A clear no hurts sharply. Almost distributes the pain into smaller payments.

Ask yourself what would remain if you removed every promise about later and judged the relationship only by its present form.

Would you choose it?

Do not demand milestones simply because a calendar says you should. People move at different speeds.

But time should reveal something. Clarity should increase. Mutual investment should become easier to identify, not require increasingly creative interpretation.

You are allowed to stop dating the forecast and look at the weather.