I learned something about breakups and falling out of love just by looking at some of these real life experiences of ending something - and that's that they are kind of beautiful in an odd sort of way. What's interesting about gathering these different confessions of epilogue of love and relationships, is that they are so unique, and raw and authentic. It doesn't matter if it was cruel, heartbreaking or bittersweet. What matters is that these words have their own stories, they make up history of something that two people once shared. There's a lot of power behind that. Breaking up is like a mixture of a Lana Del Rey song and a Beyoncé song -- melancholy and heart-wrenching, but it can also feel so liberating.
Below are the last things people have said to their ex-significant others.
"Now leave me alone too. I don't want to hear from you anymore. I don't need you insulting me. Have a nice life." -Anonymous
"Good luck in the military. I know you'll do great things. Have a great rest of your summer." -- Anonymous
"Finally, I wanted to talk to you, I'm not sending this to you because I don't want our paths to ever cross again. I don't care what you do with your life from this point on. It's kinda crazy how fast the caring and love stops when you realize how horrible it actually was. But I do want to tell you one thing. If you love me or have ever loved me please learn from this. Seriously, I beg of you. Never treat a woman the way you treated me for two years. No woman ever deserves that, so please learn, please. I don't care if you find another woman, but please please please treat her the way she should be treated instead of the way you treated me. Please, no human should ever have to feel the way I did." -- Anonymous
"I'm sorry." -- Jordan, age 22
"Happy Birthday. I hope it was a good one." -- Anonymous
"Yeah sorry, I should have been a bit more straightforward with you, but I just didn't see things going anywhere. We don't have too many common interests - I don't are about sports, and you seem to love basketball, and we don't like the same kind of music." -- Deanna, age 21
"I need to figure out things for myself first." -- Anonymous
"Just because I forgive you doesn't mean I trust you." -- Anonymous
"I can't forgive you, but I hope I forget you." -- Anonymous
"I'm glad you're happy." -- Anonymous
"I'm sorry for whatever I did to drive you away, and I hope you are happy - and I hope you can forgive me." -- Kyle, age 22
"I'm fine. You will be fine. And we both will be fine." -- Anonymous
"I think you're gonna miss me." -- Reanne, age 21
"I don't feel right keeping this. I'm going to return it and hopefully refund you." --Anonymous
"Don't go." -- Anonymous
"I love you... Bye." -- Lauren, age 21
"Thank you. I really appreciate that. I will someday take you up on that. But at this moment, I need to process our conversation. It was an emotionally hard one at many points for me, but also really helpful. We will be in touch, though." -- Colleen, age 32.
"Bye, have a nice life and I hope whoever is your wife later on, you'll be happy. I'm very happy with my current boyfriend, and I want you to block me." -- Anonymous
And finally...
"So, that's just it. We're not going to be friends after this? After everything, and all of our history with each other, we're just going to end everything? Say goodbye forever?" -- Julia (a.k.a., me), age 22
Saying goodbye is never the easiest things to do, even when you know that it's the right choice in the end. There's always this grappling feeling, trying to muster up the courage to spill the words from your lips, despite seemingly rehearsing it over and over in your head beforehand. Sometimes, the final words are the ones that make the most impact, and over-shadow and solidify what the relationship was truly like. And then suddenly, everything feels clear...and there is nothing quite like it.