Shattered

I walked up Benvenue tonight
wearing those brown boots you always loved.
The ones you said made me walk like a woman with purpose;
a woman who knows herself.
One step at a time, up Benevenue, in the dusk... towards home.
I wondered what that meant... a woman with purpose?
I wondered how a boot could make me appear to have what you always said I was lacking?
Your comments like that used to make me tingle with excitement.
As if they were so deep and well thought out. As if you could see me more clearly than anyone else and that your words, and your words alone, could help define me.
A woman with purpose.
I realize now that they were just words, and nothing more.
Words with no hidden meaning, no secret truths for me to uncover, no unseen insight into who I am.
My purpose is known to me.
No longer is there a need for your words.
I held on to all your words for too long
and now I let them go like my breath shattering into the brisk night air;
disappearing in a matter of seconds.
Disappearing, finally.