This Is Our Final Goodbye

This is me letting you go. This is me finally turning around and walking way, the way I should have done many years ago. This is me giving up on you. On us.

All good things must come to an end, and this is ours.

I never liked the finality of goodbye. The idea that you could walk away from someone never to see them again. But I’ve learned that sometimes you don’t have another choice.

Sometimes, goodbye is the only thing left to say.

We dragged out our goodbye. We tried to fill the silences with promises and hushed whispers of love. Weeks, month, years passed. For what? More time? So that we could be more prepared? I don’t think you’re ever prepared to say goodbye to anyone who once meant the world to you. I don’t think you wake up one morning ready to share your final words and last gazes.

I don’t think that goodbye means you will never think of that person again. Or that their name will never bring a smile to your face. The memories will last long after the sound of goodbye has diminished. The past will float in the silence.

No one you loved will ever be gone forever. They are a part of your identity.

I am who I am today because of the things you taught me. Because of the things I learned when I was with you. Because of the experiences we had and the love we shared. And because of the way I learned to say goodbye to the things that no longer served me.

I’ve said goodbye to you before, but this time, the sound is deafening. It feels different. Like the end of a song that you never thought would finish. Sometimes the ending is sudden, and sometimes you can tell the song is ending as the music becomes softer and the words slowly disappear. Our music lasted forever, softly playing in the background, but there were no words left to say but goodbye.