forever mine, Nevermind.

“The best day of my life
was on the day that I lost you.”
-The Band Perry

When you read those lyrics they can sound bitter, or they can sound sad. When you listen to the song “Forever Mine Nevermind” by The Band Perry, the song ends with this simple line, one that has been stuck in my head. The song is largely about those relationships where forever is promised and then taken away. When the song ends with this lyric I always feel a sense of relief.

Call it the mourning period, if you will. When a relationship ends there (and you aren’t the one who ended it) there is a natural progression of emotions that most people experience. We turn on those loud songs as we drive past their house and sing/shout about the end of the relationship. We cry. We wonder what might have been or what we could have done differently. Then, all at once, we reach a place of acceptance. It is there, in that place of acceptance, that we can see that perhaps the best day of our lives was the day that the relationship ended. After all, as the saying goes, when God closes a door, He opens a window.

Looking back on my past relationships I can see how their endings made the way for better things in my life. One relationship ending meant another one came along that restored my hope that there are good guys left in the world (Catholic ones, too!). Another relationship ending changed the way I wrote the end of my book, and for the better. At the time it was hard to see those relationships go, but in their wake I can also see how God has paved the way for other and better opportunities in my life. With each ending comes a new beginning. Whether a romantic relationship is coming to an end, or a job, or some other opportunity or situation, we run the gamut of emotions. But eventually, God willing, we reach that glorious point where we can say that maybe the best day of our lives was when we had to let go of something we were clinging to so that we could be open to God’s plan for our lives.