Where Satin Met Denim

People often called us opposites.

As though love were a puzzle
that required matching pieces,
rather than two souls
learning the shape of one another.

She was the princess.

Not the fairy-tale version
waiting in a tower,
but the kind who carried herself
with quiet grace.

She understood beauty
the way musicians understand melody.
A careful choice of colors.
A favorite necklace.
The confidence of someone
who could walk into a crowded room
and leave it brighter than she found it.

And then there was me.

The tomboy.

More comfortable in worn jeans
than anything hanging in a boutique window.
My hands preferred dirt to diamonds,
practicality to presentation,
open roads to grand entrances.

I never quite learned
the rules she seemed to know instinctively.

But she never asked me to.

That may be the reason
I fell in love.

Because love is not the art
of changing someone.

It is the art
of seeing them clearly
and staying.

She laughed at my stubbornness.

I admired her courage.

The world noticed our differences first.

One woman polished.
One woman rough around the edges.

One drawn to elegance.
One drawn to simplicity.

Yet what the world missed
was everything underneath.

How she possessed a fierce heart
beneath all that gentleness.

How I carried tenderness
beneath all that toughness.

How she taught me
that strength can be soft.

How I taught her
that softness can be strong.

Years passed.

The princess discovered
she did not need a castle.

The tomboy discovered
she did not need armor.

Somewhere between her world
and mine,
we built our own.

A place where boots rested beside heels.

Where adventure sat down
with elegance.

Where two women
who looked entirely different
found themselves wanting
the same things:

A hand to hold.

A voice that understood.

A home inside another heart.

People still see the contrast.

The tomboy and the princess.

But after all this time,
I think they have it wrong.

We were never opposites.

We were two women
searching for the same truth.

And somehow,
against all expectation,
we found it
in each other.

© Susie Stiles- Wolf