Stay if you want to. Leave if you must go.
What more could I say about the people who chose to walk away from my life? The door is always opened, to begin with. You are free to go.
But always remember, there’s no way, nor shortcut to get in again. I’d build walls and burned bridges for you. And I wish you a safe journey ahead of you. I believe that we all have our own journey and destination, and in order for you to get there, you’ve got to stop and you’ve got to rest first because the journey is long, unsure, and exhausting. I understand you for leaving me, I understand that I was just one of the stops that you had happened to passed by and you, the people I loved and cared, were just passers by.
Thank you for coming.. I wish I made you feel safe. I wish I made you feel like home, and how I wish I really was. I wish you could have stayed longer. I wish you would stay permanently and realized that I was your destination.
But…I’d be selfish for wanting you to stay and I don’t want to cage you nor stop you from growing. And begging you to leave is the least thing I want to do. Stay if you want to. Leave if you must go. No matter how much I hate to see you go, I have my door’s closed and bridges burned;walls are high, impossible to climb; barricades are heaps and strong, no way you could enter; my heart’s chained just in case I couldn’t help myself to let you in again. I’ve done all these not because I’m bitter. I’ve done these because we must move on with our lives; because we couldn’t be stuck in one place forever. We grow. We change. We move on. We learn. We heal. And we love again. Then repeat. Until we finally find our destination. We’ve got bruises, scars, and bandages—proof that you struggled a lot to have reached this point.
And I also believe that in this longest journey called life. We’ve got some people who would be with us through our entire journey. They might stop and we are left alone but people who are meant to be with us would always find a way no matter how complicated the maze is, even if it is filled with thorns and snakes, probably monsters too and survive anyway. Because, you are simply worth all the cuts, the stitches, and burns.
To all the people who are willing to stay and take this long journey with me, an infinite gratitude because I know, how tough it is to be with me. I have mood swings. I get irritated easily. I admit, there are times my attitude sucks, I tend to be selfish and self-centered. I have my shortcomings. I am imperfect. But thank you for staying. You have a choice leave, but you choose to stay and be with me through my journey anyway. I may be stubborn, obnoxious, temperamental, and pain in the ass at times, but I am that person who you can hold on to, you’ve got nothing to worry because I would cure your skinned knees when life knocks you down. I may have taken you for granted most of the time but I’ll be with you. I can’t guarantee you a smooth sailing journey; our journey might be full of humps and bumps, storms, and catastrophe, it’s frightening but I can guarantee you that I would still be there. I would never ever give up on you, just like how you didn’t give up on me.
And if one day comes, you wake up tired and choose to leave my side, know that I understand. I understand. Don’t worry about me. For just like how many times I got my skinned knees when I was learning to ride my first bicycle; I’d get used to it. I would get used to your absence, just like how I got used to your presence. Let me hug you for the last time, so I could whisper to your ears, “Thank you for staying. It’s time for you to leave. Have a safe journey..”
“If we’d never met, I think I would have known my life wasn’t complete. And I would have wandered the world in search of you, even if I didn’t know who I was looking for.”
—Nicholas Sparks, The Longest Ride
Bravo! Marvellous post! 🙂
Good luck!
Maria