The Kisses You Don’t Feel

When I kiss my sleeping girlfriend goodnight in the evening or goodbye in the morning, I don’t always know whether she’s really awake or not — but I give her those kisses anyway, because that’s what love is about.

Love is the blind you close, the water you refill, the blanket you adjust after your partner has fallen asleep. It’s the surface you wipe, the food you prepare, the clothes you lay out while your son is at work. Love is the last-minute birthday present you rush to organize for your friend, the paperwork you submit on your colleague’s behalf, and the third round of revisions to the roadmap that no one asked you to make.

Love is a million invisible actions that add up to something tangible and real. The kisses you don’t feel might not be in your memory, but they still exist — and that’s what makes them some of the most important ones.