control
"Are you sure? Because this is your fear response. This is you trying to lock something down so it can't change."
"No," I said. "This is me understanding that the only thing worth locking down is my commitment to you. Everything else—the campaigns, the career, the business—that all flows from that. But you. You I want permanently."
"Yes," he said. "Yes, I'll marry you."
I slipped the ring on, and something inside me settled into complete certainty for the first time in my life.
I wasn't marrying him because I was afraid of losing control. I was marrying him because I'd finally understood that real power doesn't come from control. It comes from trust.