Like most topics feeling related, Taylor Swift put this situation into words better than anyone else ever could have...

"Do you remember, we were sitting there by the water? You put your arm around me for the first time."

We were 13 years old, meeting at the break wall. Giggling after our first hug. Two junior highers telling each other we loved each other via text before we even knew what it really meant. As time went on, however, we were bound to discover the meaning behind those three words, or letters at the time...."ily."

"Flash forward and we're taking on the world together."

High school was when we seriously dated. Freshman year into sophomore year. It was perfect. With the occasional jealousy issues on both of our parts, everything was great. We did everything together and you became my best friend. Road trips to Ann Arbor, movie nights, always having someone to lean on..literally. I opened up to you, and told you everything. Something I wasn't too great at, and something I'm hesitant to ever do again.

"Remember when you hit the brakes too soon? Twenty stitches in the hospital room"

One week. One week after getting your license was the car accident. I'm pretty sure when I got the call that you'd been in an accident was when I realized how much I cared about you. I have never been so worried about someone in my entire life.

"Just a small town boy and girl, living in a crazy world, trying to figure out what is and isn't true."

After almost a year, everything got rocky. People constantly got involved, and more times than not we let other people in between us. Hearing rumors about each other, questioning what the truth really was, and if we knew each other as well as we thought we did.

"Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much, but maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up"

We were young. We were confused, and it became too stressful. You were a high school boy who wanted to go out and have a good time, and I was way too serious for my age.

"Time won't fly it's like I'm paralyzed by it, I'd like to be my old self again but I'm still trying to find it."

Once things ended between us, "for good" I was an absolute train wreck. I stopped eating, cried on my bathroom floor until I puked, and felt like I lost my best friend. I did lose my best friend. I didn't know what to do or who to talk to at school. I lost all focus in school, and my anxiety skyrocketed. I put all of my happiness into you, and once you left I didn't know how to find that happiness anymore. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to be my happy-go-lucky self again.

"I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale, I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell."

You put this into words better than Taylor Swift. We were never meant for "happily ever after." We were bound to each other to teach each other lessons, but we were never "meant to be," if you will.

"Midnight you come and pick me up, no headlights, a long drive, could end in burning flames or paradise"

After your "little venture," and all of the shit you pulled junior year, you still came back, and I was still waiting like a little puppy. It's disgusting when I think about it now. No matter how awful you were to me I was always there when you needed me. You and I never ended in, "paradise."

"Of all the girls tossing rocks at your window, I'll be the one waiting there even when it's cold"

I never abandoned you. Though there were more than a few times that most people thought I should've, I never did. I was there even when you ventured back to me because I was naive and thought you were worth it. I thought you were worth late nights staying up helping you with homework, bringing you Taco Bell at 2 a.m., always making sure you got home from a party safe, constantly going to every school formal dateless... in all reality, I wasted so much time, and I gave up so many opportunities.

"I lived in your chess game, but you changed the rules everyday. Wonderin' which version of you I might get on the phone, tonight."

You were a constant battle. One day we were, "just friends," the next we were "more than friends, but not dating," then we'd be, "nothing," and eventually we'd "date." It was a constant cycle and I never knew what I was to you each day, but I always knew that there was something I really liked about you which was why I never gave up.

"I think about summer all the beautiful times, I watched you laughing from the passenger side, realized I loved you in the fall."

I think there's something about senior year of high school that causes everyone to cling to what they're most comfortable with before it disappears for what could be forever. We were no different. We spent all summer exploring together. Fireworks, the beach, parties, graduation parties, watching the stars, driving around, and most importantly ice cream. It was a hoot, but the three months we had left together flew by faster than I'd have ever imagined. For you, college meant starting new and not looking back. For me, I got to college three hours from home, and I realized how important you and everyone else at home was to me.

"I can't breathe, without you, but I have to."

After graduation, life hit hard, and it hit fast. Going to school 4 hours apart was bound to create some distance. It's not easy losing touch with someone you've talked to constantly since junior high, and within the first couple weeks of losing touch I was a wreck. I had no one to talk to, I was in a new place where I knew no one, and I just wanted to talk to someone that felt like "home." You had your plan to "start a new chapter" and leave me behind once you left for college, but I have to admit I never thought you'd follow through. After a month of feeling lost and lots of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, I've adapted without you.

"I'm shining like fireworks, over your sad empty town."

Don't get me wrong, Bad Axe is a great little town, but I'm so thankful to be moving on from this. After meeting some incredible people in Dearborn, I've realized that I'm going to be okay. I have to maintain my focus where it needs to be in order to achieve my goals, and one day I'll be fine. If we're meant to cross each other's paths again, as friends or whatever it may be it will happen, if it's not meant to happen then it won't.

"Long live the walls we crashed through, I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you"

We put each other through a lot, but we got each other through a lot. We went a lot of places, sang a lot of songs, and ate a lot of chocolate chip pancakes. A lot can change in two months... Maybe you don't still sleep with the fan on, maybe you're having better luck with your roommates now, maybe you FINALLY listened to me and took another "blankey" with you to school, maybe you tried pineapple on your pizza and decided it's not as bad as you thought, maybe sometimes when cheesy songs come on you still think of me and my love for sad, sappy music. I'm thankful for every adventure we went on, and I'm thankful for every lesson you taught me. You were a great chapter in my novel.