Gone for Good

Morphine’s “Gone for Good” is the saddest little break-up song I think I’ve ever heard. The finality of it is so total.

I have to admit that the song doesn’t affect me quite as much now that I’m a happily married person. There’s a sting that is taken out of previous losses in the promise made between two people to stay together through thick and thin. Yet I think it wise to remember that kind of devastation and sorrow, even when we are happily married. None of us, even married people, are truly safe from potential loss of love.

Today is my second wedding anniversary. I waited a long time to get married at the age of 49. I went through numerous relationships that “Gone for Good” could be describing. In celebrating my marriage to my husband, I will remember them, at least for a moment, for a couple of reasons. First, to help me appreciate what I have now and to keep in mind the luck and perseverance it took to get here. And also to guard against the lack of attention that can allow even deep love to disappear. My happiness today is built on the understanding that I forged through all of those other people, now gone for good.