This Is Me Letting You Go

by Heidi Priebe

I used to believe that there were so many Universes for you and I. There was the one where we held it together. The one where we stuck around, worked it out, ironed out our heartbreaks, and forgave one another for it all. There was the one where there was nothing to forgive—where we grew up as slowly as we needed to, never had to turn against each other, didn’t have greater ambitions or wandering eyes or weary, mismatched hopes clasped too tightly to our chests. One where everything happened the way it was supposed to. There was the one where it was simpler, easier, pure. The one where we wanted the same things, laughed at the same jokes, and loved each other’s families as if they were our own. Where my ambitions didn’t push you out of the picture and where your insipid lack of confidence didn’t tear us apart at the seams.