In the midst of noise and chaos, I have wondered what it’s like to have someone I could sit with for hours in silence without feeling like my presence bores them. I have heard a lot of things starting with “You’re so quiet,” eventually turning into “You’re boring.” People do find my quiet presence boring—until I met someone who is also fluent in silence and never once made my presence feel like a threat.

I have met a diverse range of people, even at my young age. I have hung out and made friends with people who are like me and those who are the complete opposite. Reflecting on the friendships that I have had and still have, it has always been the presence of quiet and steady warmth that I yearn for in a world full of loud expectations—you are it, the person who comes with a handful of love and understanding in every passing storm. You are someone who shows up in my storm, in other people’s storms, even while surviving your own. Your presence is never loud, but it’s loud enough to blur the background noise I try to block.

You are someone I wanted to get close to but never expected to, and I didn’t know I needed you until one day. Despite our subtle difference, it never feels like there is a gap that needs to be filled to make our friendship work. There is no need to experience the same thing firsthand to connect, no need to compensate. Just understanding—one that flows naturally, unforced, like it was always meant to be.

And in this day and age, everybody needs someone they can rely on through every passing season of life. You are someone I believe everyone should know because you not only have a lot of love to give—you are love itself, and everybody deserves to know how love is supposed to feel. That is, at least, what I think. However, you are my someone. Everybody needs someone, but not my someone. You are my quiet constant, and I want it to be known—especially by you—that I will also be your quiet constant in the midst of noise and chaos. I will sit with you in your quietest moments and in your loudest. I may be more fluent in silence, but know that my love for our friendship is louder than any ears can bear.

This is something I have been trying to keep to myself, but I decided to share it, knowing that someone out there is searching for meaning in friendship amid fleeting moments. If you are wondering where your constant quiet is, I hope you find them. If I found mine, I’m sure yours is waiting in the quietest corner, also looking for you.

And if you are someone who is constantly there for other people, showing up in their storms while battling your own, I want you to know this: You deserve the same kind of love you give so freely, the same understanding, and the same steady presence. I hope you find your quiet constant too, even if it’s within yourself.