Some friendships are loud and constant – and that’s beautiful.But the ones I treasure most these days are the quiet ones. The ones that gift you a puzzle with your “special interest” on it – without even knowing what an autistic special interest is and by far not that you are autistic (although… looking back…

For a long time, I thought in was “too much”. Too intense. Too quirky. Too sensitive. Too structured an chaotic at the same time. Too… me. Friendship felt like walking a tightrope: Trying to show just enough without being “too weird”. And when I couldn’t make anymore, I often disappeared – because rejection after unmasking…