I already knew the story of the woman who was in seven thousand tiny pieces, I asked him about her again—what drew him to her, what they did together, and why he did with her what he did—and by the time we were done talking I didn’t feel anything in my gut anymore. I only felt closer to him.

He wants to tell you about them because he wants to deepen his relationship with you, to share things about himself that he doesn’t share with many others.

This is called intimacy. This is called fuck yes. When people do this with us, it’s an honor. And when the people who do this with us also happen to be people with whom we are falling in love, it lets us into an orbit in which there is only admission for two.

Isn’t that cool? It is. It really is, pumpkin. It’s gratitude that you should be feeling in place of jealousy and insecurity and fear when your lover shares stories of his life with you. I encourage you to reach for that gratitude. It’s located just a stretch beyond the “crazed fire” that’s burning in your head. I’m certain that if you apply some effort you’ll have it in hand.

- cheryl strayed