Saturday

 Tonight, I tell myself the truth.

I admit what my ego protected me from for years.I was in love.I didn’t want to say it, because love meant loss,and loss meant pain.

I loved deeply.I tried to be present.I tried to provide.When things didn’t work, I turned the pain inward and went quiet—not because I didn’t care,but because I cared too much.I see now that sometimes love isn’t enough to heal someone else’s wounds.And sometimes, no matter how much you give, people still leave.That doesn’t mean I failed as a man.It means I was human.

I grieved in silence.I ran.I read.I meditated.I practiced yoga.I stayed sober.I stayed alive.

For years, I didn’t move on because my heart wasn’t finished understanding.Tonight, it is.I forgive myself for not being able to save everything.I forgive myself for losing interest when my spirit was tired.

I forgive myself for surviving the only way I knew how.I miss my child.I always have.Love never left—only the circumstances changed.

Tonight, I release the need to chase the past.

I release the shame.I release the story that I should have been stronger than I was.I honor the love that was real.

I honor the discipline that saved me.

I honor the silence that taught me.

Tonight, I accept what happened without bitterness.

I accept myself without judgment.

And I allow my heart to open again—

not backward, but forward.

I am grateful.

I am still here.

And I am ready for what comes next.

Yoruba Yogi.