When you're not who you were

“You and your partner are talking about the summer, loosely making plans — a possible trip, some weekends away. But as it comes together, you realize the trip they're excited about lands right in the middle of a work stretch that actually matters to you now. Six months ago you would have just moved things around. But something has shifted lately, and you care about this work in a way you didn't before. You haven't said that part out loud yet.”