I Will Always Love You

These lovers first said hello and last said goodbye on a NE couch

This morning as I lay on the couch with my lover one last time, this song came to me in all its cheesy glory:

If I should stay
I would only be in your way
So I'll go but I know
I'll think of you every step of the way

And I... will always love you, ooh
Will always love you
You
My darling, you...
Mmm-mm

Bittersweet memories
That is all I'm taking with me
So goodbye
Please don't cry
We both know I'm not what you, you need

Oh I don't know, Whitney. I'd like him to cry. Really, really cry about losing me, the way I've really, really cried for the last year, and especially this last week. At least once.

I hope life treats you kind
And I hope you have all you've dreamed of
And I wish you joy and happiness
But above all this I wish you love

I do want these things for him. I really do. But I don't want to lose him.

And I... will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you

I will always love you
I, I will always love you.

You.
Darling, I love you.
I'll always...
I'll always love you.

Yes I will. And I cried my little eyes out as I heard it playing inside my head. And when I managed to pick myself up off the couch and pry myself away from him, Whitney was quickly followed by the Stones reminding me I can't always get what I want.

I'll say...

2019 postscript: Just weeks before we are slated to say goodbye again, I came across this beautiful cover featuring Dolly Parton and Brandi Carlile.

And I will, still, always love him... only this time, I'm willing to lose him to create space for more harmony in my own life.