Approach the unsaid corners

How the sound of silence reverberates still

Over time, every relationship amasses a set of conventions, vocabulary, and straight-up lore. Hotwords that inflame specific nostalgia. Inside jokes. Preposterous slang. This history, of everything said, is the canvas on which you jointly paint every conversation. It shapes all that is said afterward, and it tints how it’s understood.

And then there is t…