Five Years

We talked every night. We wrote letters. The distance never diminished our love for each other. We had it all figured out.

I flew out to see you on Valentine's day. You baked me a cake for my birthday. We had Thanksgiving dinner with your family. You took me to see the Christmas lights in the park. We were so in love, so established. I was so comfortable. Five years of happiness, and we were on the path to marriage before too long.

And then I found you one morning, surrounded by empty beer bottles, your dark secret exposed. I couldn't sleep, you said. I just had a few beers. It's okay. But it wasn't okay. It was the beginning of the end.

And then you crashed your car and got arrested. And you called me, crying. And I couldn't take it any more. It was over. We were over. Back to square one. Five years just gone. Gone forever.