This is my breakup in a small town.
Natick is a town where everyone knows each other and it is very easy to know other people’s business. It only takes me about fifteen minutes to get from my end of town to the other.
It has been almost three years since my first long relationship ended. About ten years in total of knowing each other. Three of those were us officially together, but two of the years were you at boarding school. Another three of those years have been us broken up.
Since we parted and went down different paths, I see that we are not as similar as I once thought. We have different ideas on school, work, fun, and friend groups. Nothing wrong with having different preferences and opinions, we’re just different.
Now, most people may hear a song and think, “This describes my relationship with my ex so much.” Well, my song that makes me think that is Sam Hunt’s song, “Break Up In A Small Town.”
“I swear it’s like I can’t even leave my house
I should’ve known all along
You gotta move or move on
When you break up in a small town”
Yeah, that’s the song. Just that part is so true and easy to relate with. Even three years later whenever I leave the house and no matter where I go, something about you comes up or people ask about you. To be honest, I know nothing about you anymore or what you do. Things you tell me are opposite of what the truth is. In response though I just say, “I don’t know. We don’t speak anymore.” Or whenever I see your family, sometimes they say something to me and other times they don’t.
“I see our friends and they put on a show
Like they don't want me to know”
After three years of being together, I especially got closer to your friends and family. Once we broke up I still stayed friendly with them all. If I saw any of them they would work around my questions that I had in order to not answer, as if something was going to hurt me. When it became a longer time of being apart they would mention you, but they wouldn’t say right away who you were with, what you were up to, or how you were doing. That's fine though because now it's really none of my business.
“I knew she’d find a way to get over me
But I’d never thought that
She would get down with somebody I know
I guess that’s just how it goes”
Though you are not a girl, let’s discuss this part of the song. Pretend the song is talking about a boy. The first girl and all the others after me have been people I’ve known or have mutual friends or ties with. Why? Due to that, most of them have followed me on all types of social media causing you and them to have issues, not smart.
“Your mailbox is seven minutes from mine
And I drive into town sometimes and I see you sittin’ there with him”
If I remember correctly, we live a little over ten minutes apart and that is because we live on opposite ends of town. Sometimes I have seen you sittin’ there with one of them. Natick is such a small town, it isn’t hard to accidentally drive by people you know. And I mean you did transfer to the high school I attended as well, so that wasn’t hard to miss things in passing either.
Well, I guess Sam Hunt is right, you do have to move or move on when you break up, especially in a small town.
And my last note to you, good luck with everything.
