Porcupine

Herself is a prickly, cranky rodent right now.

Awash in frustration about things over which she has no control, unable to enunciate her own needs adequately enough to have them addressed, she is fragile and fatigued. She is wounded by one hundred tiny hurts. Full of contradiction, she wants to be independent and resilient, yet longs for the respite of another's care. She is angry at herself for being needy, and at the same time is in desperate need of consolation.

She is difficult. She may lash out before she can be comforted. She may shed bitter, useless tears.

Yet she asks of us, in the words of the Swedish proverb:

Love me when I least deserve it,
because that's when I really need it.