Sonia M. Rompoti, MSc, Bsc

On their fifth anniversary, he didn’t give her a gift.

Instead, he asked her a question.

They were walking along the waterfront after dinner, shoes off despite the cold sand, and Leon stopped walking, turned to her and said: “What’s something you’ve always wanted to do that I don’t know about?”

Petra looked at him. “What?”

“Something you’ve wanted. That we haven’t talked about. It doesn’t have to be big.”

She thought he was building to something. A trip, maybe. Some planned surprise. But his face was open and waiting and genuinely curious, the way he looked when he was reading something that interested him.

“I want to learn to sail,” she said, finally. “Properly. Not just — be on a boat. Actually know how to do it.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“That’s it? Okay?”

“We’ll find a course.” He took her hand and they started walking again. “What else?”

“There has to be a reason,” she said. “You’re not just asking.”

“I am just asking.” He glanced at her sideways. “You tell me things you want when you want them, but I know there’s more. Things you think aren’t worth mentioning.” He shrugged. “I want to know the ones you don’t mention.”

Petra was quiet for a moment. The cold sand was soft under her feet.

The most intimate act, she thought, isn’t sharing a bed or finishing each other’s sentences. It’s asking someone what they haven’t said — and meaning it.

“Okay,” she said. “I also want to take a pottery class.”

“Done.”

“And I want a cat.”

He paused. “Let’s talk about the cat.”

She laughed, and the sound went out over the dark water.

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✦  Today’s Reflection

What is something you’ve wanted — a dream, a wish, a small longing — that you haven’t told your partner yet? What’s stopped you?