The rawness of my core wound comes around every year.

The most vulnerable thing I could ever do is ask if you'd spend my birthday with me.

Even as I write the words, tears flood my eyes and spill over.

A knot clenches in my gut, and my throat becomes so tight it's almost impossible for me to breathe.

I try to swallow it down, but the icy terror in my heart threatens to heave up and out of my body.