“Sometimes love isn’t about saying more…
it’s about learning to listen.”

— The Hopeful Tree

Tonight felt… different.

Not because anything big happened.

But because something small shifted in me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about connection lately.

With my daughter…

And strangely enough… with a cat.

For the past few weeks, things with my daughter haven’t been easy.

She’s been frustrated.

Short-tempered with me.

Sometimes even what I would call disrespectful.

And honestly…

I didn’t understand why.

I thought I was doing what a father should do—

asking about her day,
trying to solve her problems,
checking in.

But something wasn’t working.

Then my ex-wife shared something simple with me.

She said… maybe it’s not the questions.

Maybe it’s how I’m asking them.

That hit me.

Because when I thought about it…

I realised I was asking the questions I wanted answers to.

Not what my daughter was ready to share.

So I tried something different.

I slowed down.

I stopped probing.

I just… stayed present.

Bit by bit.

Not because I asked better questions…

But because I gave her space to be heard.

And oddly enough…

around the same time, I started learning about cats.

There’s this stray I call Meow Meow.

Before this, my interaction was simple:

feed her… wait… clear the food… leave.

No connection.

But recently, I watched a few videos.

Trying to understand how cats think… how they feel.

And I realised something:

They don’t communicate like us.

They respond to how safe they feel.