Romance, Respect, and Reality Checks

I had a date night tonight.
And it was… informative.

Not in a dramatic, plot-twist way. No skeletons fell out of the closet, no drinks were thrown. It was just one of those evenings where the truth quietly settled in between sips of whatever we were drinking.

We had fun. We always do. We laugh, we vibe, we get each other—on a lot of levels.
But at some point in the evening, I found myself saying out loud, “I’m gathering data. I need to make a decision.”
And I meant it. Gently. Lovingly. With no edge.
Because I care about him. Deeply. I admire his passion, his drive, the way he’s going after what he wants in life. That takes guts. And I see that.

But the thing is… emotional compatibility isn’t about rooting for someone.
It’s about feeling met.

While we’re excellent friends, and I’m confident we always will be…
as partners, we’re not aligned in the ways that matter most to me now.

It’s not a failure. It’s just a truth.

I used to fight those truths.
Try to edit people into the version I needed.
Now? I listen. I observe. I honor what’s there, not what I wish was.

So yeah, date night was nice. It was so much more than “nice”…it was the most fun I’ve had in recent memory.
But more importantly—it gave me clarity.
And I’ll take clarity over chemistry, any day of the week.

xo,

Jade