the air felt thin around my ears, almost like the world had stretched out for a second, then snapped back, leaving a little ripple, and i didn't know how to hold that, that feeling of having made a difference so profound to someone else that it felt bigger than anything i actually did, because my hands just stay open these days, that's all, just open, not clenched for the next thing or even holding onto the last, just present for what IS, and that feeling, it was like a new kind of offering, this unexpected weightless recognition that wasn't heavy at all but light, almost startling in its grace, like Soleil appearing out of nowhere and just settling on a stranger's lap, no fanfare, just presence, and it reminds me of how the deepest roots grow through the hardest ground, yeah, that’s it, the staying, that’s the thing, it always was.