SLC31-W1" // Steem Expedition, Hidden Gems and Local Secrets: My Secret Refuge

Most people associate the word refuge with a location. Someplace where you may go to get away from everything, a quiet corner, a beach, a room. Mine own is not like that. A person gives me solace, not a place, not an object and the person is my woman.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/L8xREB5G7d51mVZW6
[Her house location]
It was shown to me gradually, not at a time. I didn't seek for this or organize anything. It came in times, starting with little ones at first. Being together in close proximity, chatting, laughing, or even silently. Then one day I came to see that spending time with her transformed everything whenever my mood felt off or my head felt too full. That was when things began to make sense for me. My calmness wasn't found in a place. Her presence was what it was.

When I get there, the first thing I do is basic. I chill. Sometimes I lay my head on her laps; sometimes I simply stare at her features. That time has something that's a mystery about it that get me resets. Without too much effort, the noise in my head seems to subside. I don't have to force a conversation or clarify anything. Just being present sufficews.

Those sounds that make this thing subtle, not dramatic. Her voice, it's familiar and composed, is what it is. Sometimes silence, sometimes laughter. Not vacant but full is even the quiet. Her scent, understated but soothing, is also rather captivating. Though I cannot describe it exactly, it feels like something familiar, something that fits.

I'm unsure whether there is one particular moment I favor. But it would be evenings if I had to choose. That is when the day is slowing down, when everything else is fading a bit. Being with her at that period seems different. It feels like a gentle finale to whatever stress the day created. It provides me some equilibrium before the evening.

Should this location speak, I think it would disclose something I do not always say aloud. It would say that I have to have peace more than I own. Moments of overload strike me even if I look good externally. It would also state that I trust profoundly since allowing someone to become your sanctuary entails you have opened their quietest self to them.

This hideaway is not faultless. It is not always accessible as a physical location is. But it reminds me when I am there, even for a brief period, that peace does not always come from where you go. Sometimes it comes from who you're around.