I wrote this weeks ago. And now I’ve lost the person that it is about. He has given up on trying to find a place for me in his future. And I’m grieving.

you told me that it was the best day of your life. i could see that in your eyes all day. the chronology fails me, the events are already slipping away. i just remember how it felt. the uncontrollable smiles. the calm, peaceful serenity of it. i remember memorizing your face over and over again. and i remember the music. singing snippets of lyrics to you. knowing that every love song ever written was about us. because we were loving each other not as the center of our individual universes but as the center of the entire universe. so, how could a musician write about any love other than ours? what could be more pure or intense or real? these are the ridiculous narcissistic thoughts that clouded my thoughts and utterances. this is why i looked in your eyes and earnestly said that one of the upsides of being codependent was sharing just as much in the other’s joy as in the sadness. i suggested at one point that we had spent the day doing nothing. you were firm and insistent that this wasn’t nothing. i see now that it was the biggest something i have ever done. but just like the way i love you, i can’t put a label on it.

***

We sang together. Our voices cracking under the stress of the moment. The fear weaves through the melody. But there is a commitment in that lyric. By the end of the song, all I could do was whisper the words. But I kept at it. The final lines didn’t choke me up so much because of the weight of the ones that had come before. That was bearable. What was unbearable was seeing the end of the song and knowing that this moment was about to end. I nearly panicked. I wanted to stop time. Perhaps if I could stop the song from ending, I could stop you from sliding away from me.

***

We stood naked together, smelling of sweat and tears and a day of anguish. You pulled me to you in the water and whispered dreams of a future in my ear. A home and cats and growing old together. Growing together. You wish for it. For a moment, I don’t hear the conflict in your voice anymore. You sound resolved. But it flits away quickly. It gets loaded down with caveats, maybes, and what-ifs. I’ve stepped closer to this dream but only for an instant. It is a dream that is more yours than mine. It sounds lovely, it sounds satisfying, but mostly it sounds like a way to have you near my always.

***

you asked me something unfair. to make love to you like it would keep you alive. i knew that is how i did it every time but i was still afraid that i could fail. and if i failed would it mean that you would die? so i plead for your life and made a million promises that would be impossible to keep if you would just stay on the earth.

***

I want to be strong for you. I want to be strong in your eyes. I want you to see the woman that, at the age of 9, picked the outfit her mother would be buried in. I want you to see the 18-year-old that moved across the country by herself to embark on a new education and a new life. You are so strong and I feel dwarfed by it on most days.

***

I remember holding you. Scooping you up in my arms like you were a child. Looking down on you and seeing your frailty and vulnerability and marveling at the strength that lived within it. I remember my shock at realizing that my body knew what to do at those moments. Even with no idea what to say, you fit in the space of my lap, I was built to shelter you and protect you in those moments. The same as you can provide me casual but total safety by welcoming me to rest my head on your chest. It occurred to me that my only purpose on earth in that moment, my only reason to take another breath, was to love you and keep loving you and being loved by you. Intensely. So you could feel it through the pain. And I believe that you could if only in small moments.

***

You told me that it was the best day of your life.  I know that you might be approaching one of the worst. I feel so powerless to crack through that pain. I’m resisting the urge to believe that being unable to help is a reflection on the intensity or tenacity of our love. I pray for the chance to grow with you.