Just breathe...

Fire is a beautiful thing. I've always loved a good camp fire. Just to sit and watch the flames dance, the colors blend and bend to the timber, the wind, the night air. But have you ever watched fire burn in an enclosed container? It dies. There is no oxygen for it to breathe. It's a slow painful death, but an abrupt ending to a beautiful creature. It's interesting because I don't think a lot of people think about how oxygen is such a key component for fire's existence. Mostly it is considered that flammable items is what fuels the fire, but it's the air that allows the fire to flourish. It takes nurturing of a fire for it to burn to its full potential - strategic laying of the wood so air can flow under and around it, paper or leaves for it to catch and begin burning the tinder until it gets hot enough to ignite the wood. There's a lot more planning and strategizing than some think.
Fire is such an amazing natural element. It provides us with so much - warmth, means to cook food, light, security, protection, energy; but if you get too close it can burn. It can burn pretty bad. It can even kill.
You may be able to manipulate the environmental factors of fire to manage it, but it can't be controlled. All it takes is for fire to be in a barren or an unmonitored flammable area for a fire to take off and destroy everything in it's path. Fire may be extinguished by various means, but then its dead. More fire may always be recreated, but the fire that has been extinguished will never revive again.
Sometimes I think of relationships being the same. We need to just breathe...
It's very common to think that when in a relationship that constant togetherness is a mandatory factor to the relationship's success. On the contrary, not everyone is designed to be domesticated and caged. A person that is a free spirit needs room to breathe. They need space to flourish. They require nurturing and support from various means of fuel for them to ignite and exist in their full potential. It takes work and respect. You can't suffocate them with questions, demands, confinement - they'll become resentful or even worse, broken, and their spirit will die. You can't criticize who they are, by comparing them to who they're not. They will blaze out of control and burn you in the process. A free spirit can bring light, love, energy, security, protection & always leave you wanting more. But just as you must be patient when starting a fire and maintaining it with the same space and respect, you must do the same with a free spirit.
It's hard to not want to conform them, contain them; but without oxygen to breathe and move, their passion for you will die too. It's important to enjoy them, respect them, encourage them, but don't smother them. The embers don't last long once the fire is extinguished.

 So much relies on the oxygen we breathe. Don't deprive those you care about because of your own desires. Carefully nurture their needs and you will lavish in the joys that their fire will bring.