dear abby,

I think today felt like some sort of weird milestone of a day. I say this because suddenly, I found myself sobbing on LaSalle and Grand. They say that you aren't a New Yorker until you've cried publicly on the subway. I'm not trying to be a New Yorker and I'm certainly not trying to do any (additional) public crying, but this was kind of like that. I'm so grateful for my roommate, who reacted perfectly, and to his boyfriend, who was so sweet despite his terror at seeing a girl he's known for 5 days bawling. My roommate is effusively kind, hilarious, and incredibly intuitive. They gave me space and then swooped in, first listening, then when the time was right, cracking jokes. It wasn't a pretty sight, but they picked me up.

Later, we decided: I'm okay. You're okay. And we repeated it a lot to each other because we know it's true.