I know it’s your job to care and comfort but it can be too much to handle. The way your smothering hugs are so tight like suffocating. The constant intrusions to ask how my day was. The offended way you look when I ask you to stop chewing so loudly. It all makes my head want to explode, like hearing nails on a chalkboard. Most of the time I don’t mean to be mean but I need space away from the embraces, time alone to myself. I guess you just don’t understand. I know you care and those disappointed stares you give when I don’t return a hug or when I sit quietly as you talk to me speak for themselves. I know I’ll appreciate it one day, but for now just accept that I love you, even if I don’t always show it.