The world asks women to be a lot of hard things, capable, resilient, composed, unbothered, always slightly armoured. It rarely offers many places to simply be soft. This hour is meant to be one of them.

Here you can let the armour down, the brave face, the competent set of the shoulders, the readiness that you carry without noticing. Softness is not weakness, and it is not a thing to be ashamed of. It is just the truer, more tender state underneath all the holding-firm, and it deserves somewhere safe to come out.

For one hour you do not have to be strong, or guarded, or ready for anything. You can be soft, and looked after, and entirely unembarrassed about it. That is rarer than it should be, and more of a relief than it sounds. Everyone deserves a place to put the armour down.

たけと