06/22/2026
At some point, without realizing it, you stopped expecting evenings to be easy.
You stopped expecting to come home and just... rest. You started reading the temperature of a room the moment you walked in. Adjusting your mood to match someone else's. Choosing your words carefully. Keeping the peace.
This is what it looks like when your household has reorganized itself around someone who isn't yet ready to reorganize themselves.
And the hardest part isn't the tension. It's that you've gotten so used to it, you've started to forget what it felt like before.