They say no one is ever ready to cross the sacred threshold of marriage. Courage is forced to bloom, even as the heart trembles in silence. They call my fears excessive— but what do they know of love that shatters? Of a partner who hides their nature, until the mask dissolves into ruin? Let me be cautious, let me move with care. This choice is not for tomorrow alone, but for the children yet to come. I will not hand down a fractured home, or endless ache to souls born pure. I have been the victim before, trapped in a house without light, suffering drawn out, unrelenting. Never again— I refuse to pass that curse to another generation. Better to panic now than to wither in sorrow later.